As Basil Brush says 'Boom, boom!'
I have experienced more electrical problems here in France than I ever did in the UK where we designed and caused the construction of hundreds of flats and houses. Tripping out is a regular problem here although my system was completely new from top to bottom by a French electrician. We upped the capacity and the house in now on 3 phase but many fewer problems. Like many people we also suffer outages and power surges during electrical storms. Best to buy isolators for all expensive appliances. Although I had a totally new system we nearly had a fire during a surcharge when the MCB unit was smelling of burning. I have five smoke alarms and a CO2 alarm plus fire extinguishers in the house. People need to be extra vigilant when buying fridge freezers as there have been several fatalities in the UK caused by the rear plastic lining catching fire. (You can find stuff in Google). Some of the French houses round here have positively lethal wiring in them and I should say that at least one fire a week is reported in the local rag. To the best of my knowledge none of the units we designed in the UK ever had a fire in them (other than the usual mysterious fires caused by developers during the planning process).
I have a UK socket fixed in the garage with a length of 3 core cable wired to a french plug, which is plugged into the nearby french socket when needed.
I use it for charging batteries when the (UK) charger is built into the plug. I don't think that this would cause a problem with insurance or local authority.......?
I was once told that UK appliances running on 240v in the UK would run a little slower when powered by 230 v, but I don't know if this is true or not as the difference would be to small to notice!?
That’s not true Mark, about the pipes and the taps. Surprisingly all French taps and screwed fittings are BSP, half inch to most taps, three quarters to bath taps. Radiator valves the same. It’s why a UK washing machine will connect to a French tap.
The French system is completely different from the UK even though the UK may soon go over to not using ring mains and go for a similar type of system. The only thing my electrician. Said was acceptable were UK style light switches as long as they were wired according to the french system. As they are so much better than the flimsy french ones
I must say that I do find it strange that Brits who move here would wire their houses to a foreign spec rather than follow the country's building regulations - makes as much sense as still insisting to drive on the left here. What makes them think that they can select & import regulations to suit themselves? Cost of electrical components is a weak excuse, if you shop around you can save considerable amounts.
I remember seeing vans at Dover docks with copper pipes strapped to the roofs, on their way to projects here. 15, 22 & 28 mm sizes. French pipes are different sizes so a french tap will not fit directly to a uk pipe.
All this leaves major headaches for any future owner!
When in Rome........
It also means paying insurance for something that is not covered and could also get in the way of another claim, for instance a fire caused by something else but that caused the fire service or their assessor to notice the non-standard installation. I have no idea about fines but EDF do cut people off for non-conform installations. My OH has had a few houses where the vendors have had to have extensive re-installations before they can complete a sale, never a complete one but she did tell of a house with all three pin sockets where the man who went into to do the check for lead, asbestos and so on noticed the installations and told EDF and the mairie.
Hi Lea, well that's not good, I am no lawyer so couldn't begin to guess the outcome if something was to go wrong/someone got hurt. The UK system is basically safe as there are very few injuries but we aren't in the UK so I would think non compliance with the local system could mean a fine, or disconnection as it is way outside the french regulations.
Hi john, yes we currently have all the above
EU rules are above local insurance company so they must comply or get very heavily fined.
What's the difference between God and an underwriter? God doesn't think they are are an underwriter!
It would be arguable that the UK ring circuit is not quite as safe as a radial circuit because it is possible that a break in the ring circuit could mean overloading the remaining leg, however instances of this, well I haven't heard of any. In normal operation the ring can take quite a big load compared to a radial circuit, not that it's advised to do that but there are big safety margins on cable current carrying. Handy though it is to run everything in conduits (gaine) that also can cause cables to overheat compared to burying them in stone/brick work. All a little far fetched as you shouldn't be getting any circuit that close to it's limit but with lots of extra connection points in French wiring there is also potential for failure/high resistance connections that cause over heating.
Sure, in principle but does it stop faulty goods slipping through the net? One of my OH's UK client's was away, but there was a potential buyer asking to view it. They asked her to go to the house to check if the heating was on, so on that occasion I went with her. I can't remember exactly but there was something like a TV, DVD player, stereo, freesat box, a couple of electric radiators and floor lights all attached to extensions connected to each other that were connected to the socket with one of the cheapest little two pin plugs. Even then the wires were not fixed in properly. I looked in horror, touched one of the four point extensions and my hand jumped away from the heat immediately. If that house had gone up in flames... OK, no doubt people do the same with French connections. The difference is when the insurance people hear about/see one they will be more strident about the UK stuff, for right or wrong.
Having said that, last time I visited my sister in London I went out with her on an evening office clean. Her three employees and her had an appliance each on a single extension. Expensive industrial quality vacuum cleaner, steam cleaner, floor polisher and glass steamer but all on the one connector. I unplugged the things for them but only after disconnecting at the point and then allowing the poker hot connector to cool down. One of them said they usually keep their work gloves on to do it. So, it seems like it is a done thing. Madness!
Dave you can ask and probably spark off one of the hotly debated topic on any france forum. I would say the later spec'd french systems are safer, earlier versions are bloody silly. And putting aerials etc inside the same box as electrical circuits is daft just so someone has to test in one place only.
The French system isn't much different to a UK commercial setup, it uses a lot more cable than a UK domestic setup though. When there are higher death tolls from other areas surely those should be looked into first.
I am not sure there is a molding machine in Asia that doesn't by default have the CE mark emblasoned to every thing they make but in the case of 99p/ Poundland etc the local trading standards guys will have at least batch sampled and tested them. The MIL had one fail, took it apart to have a look, not real quality but not much different to a French cheap plug either.
Can I ask how is the french system safer than UK?
But Simon, the extension leads I have seen people using of the Poundsaver variety, one connected to the other so that one socket serves umpteen appliances seems to go beyond all reason. I can't say I have ever looked, but my gut feeling is that those cheapo things don't have a CE mark on them. If they do, it should not be.
by Law any device or appliance that has a CE stamp on it can be used in any European country. a CE mark must be on any device or appliance used in Europe any way.
the french electrical system is much safer than the uk system but both are very safe. it is only the stupidity of the users that causes faults.
Yes Brian, better to change the plugs, maybe but I have to admit the fused plug still gives me extra safety although the trip from interrupteur differentiel should be quicker.
I have seen low cost UK to French converters with narrower pins than other slightly higher spec'd 10 amp versions. I bought a few myself years back 6amp rating I believe. Thrown those out as they tend to cause arching at the socket through making a bad mechanical connection. Mainly leave a few around for UK guests as we haven't bought any curling tongs/straightening tongs but we have a French hair dryer as that is a bit power hungry or will be until the next EU ruling bringing the spec down yet further, likewise the trusty Henry vacuum at 1500w is ok now but the spec is due to reduce to 900w soon.
With you 100% John. I never understand why people do not invest a few €s in new plugs though, especially when using some of the nasty cheap extensions I have seen. Whoever has a whole place wired by a UK electrician who does as you describe is asking for trouble and a lot of expense in the long run, for instance if selling up.
As for the can stupidity, they were apparently a young couple who had never used a microwave before. I believe they paid for a new mw and dishwasher though.
It's interesting as usual with insurance companies how they take the premiums without issue but the look for spurious and irrelevant means to refuse payout. The issue of the stupidity of a can? metal and sealed in a microwave should be covered under some other clause maybe they were suffering from something affecting their reasoning state at the time. UK domestic products will almost certainly have EN CE labels and putting that in France is not going to be illegal, many will have been made in the EU anyway. Extension leads and socket converters are made and passed through the relevant safety tests so they won't be illegal either.
I know of an English electrician (no longer in France) who used twin and earth, UK consumer unit and UK sockets now that is wrong and justifiably no insurer should pay out.
Going further, French domestic products are also way over priced, way behind the times, crikey they sell cookers which you have to light with a match!