Punch
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Posts posted by Punch
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And if you don't have the Siren of the person, here is a site that you can search using other criteria such as name or tel number.
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On the modern electronic meters there are a set of volt free normally open contacts , C1 & C2 which become closed during "heures creuses".
On the older mechanical meters, which you seem to have there is normally a sealed relay adjacent to the meter (or in your house) which I believe receives a pulse of 175 Hz frequency to operate a contacter in your tableau electrique . If you do not have this relay you could either ask the EDF to install one for you ( you will need to supply a pair of 1.5mm wires protected by a 2amp disjoncteur), or you could fit a simple timeclock in your tableau that could be set to switch a contactor on and off during your "heures creuses".
The actual off peak hours and tariff you have are marked on the rear (bottom )of your EDF facture. It may be worth checking that you are actually on the EDF tariff.
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[quote user="powerdesal"]What is an acceptable reading of earth resistance? A site electrical engineer here told me that 0.5 ohms is ok but I want to confirm it as it seems a bit high to me.
[/quote]The minimum acceptable earth electrode resistance accepted by the Consuel in France for a 500 milliamp EDF trip is 99.99 ohms ( ie: below 100 ohms). This is a lot higher in France because most installtions have to be earth spiked wherby the Uk often uses a combined Earth and Neutral at the origin.
Depending on your ground conditions, this can be either fairly easy or almost impossible to achieve ! I often have to place 2 electrodes and the lowest I have achieved in the last 11 years of working here on a domestic installation is around 17 ohms .
Regarding the mini debate about "Meggers;" Most old school Sparkies who did apprenticeships would still relate a Megger to an insulation resistance tester, rather than an earth electrode resistance tester, although that company obviously produces both. (Just like Makita used to be the only decent battery driver on the market when they first started to appear in the 80's).
The early Meggars used to have a wind up handle to produce the 500/1000V test voltage - used to be great fun seeing who could hold the croc clips for the longest whilst the other party wound it up !!! [:'(]
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Benjamin wrote:
Quote "Talking to a garagiste is not my problem it's just finding one that doesn't snort, shrug their shoulders' and walk away when they realise that they're not going to be making anything on the tyres." unquote
You're obviously not looking far enough. I think the notion that all garages do this is a very English mindset - a bit like buying a croissant in a bakers here and then going to another bar to eat it - not usual in the Uk but easily done here and accepted practice.
I have five vehicules on the road, but my tyres from www.allopneus.com and either have them fitted by the garages recommended on their website or (more usually) by Feu Vert or Norauro. Both of these chains have a price list in their stores that has a "forfait" (fixed price ) for fitting tyres, balancing and new valve - even if you supply the tyres no problem. I think it's around 12 euros per tyre. I have never had a problem with this. It does help if you ocassionally show your face in the store as well just to build up a rapport - maybe buy your oil or accessories from them.
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I own a relatively new 4 1/2 year old Renault Van that I bought from new in France. Has done 132,000 KM from new and fully maintained by Renault main dealer.
The gearbox sounds like it is about to fail as 3rd and 4th are becoming increasingly noisier. (I had a similar problem on a 4 year old Laguna last year and I had to have an exhorbitant repair done in Spain and didn't follow it up with Renault due to language difficulties and also that I was on holiday at the time.)
Before this Van becomes any worse and fails compltely, how should I approach the problem? In my experience, Renault will probably just fob me off and estimate a repair. I did some minor research and have found that this may be a known problem.( if anyone is remotely interested here is the link to a forum I found) http://www.auto-evasion.com/forums/viewtopic_19238.html
Has any one had similar experience or can offer me advice on best approach I would be very grateful as a 5K repair bill would just about do me in at the moment!
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I also use Picassa 2 it's excellent. I have a problem recently though and was wondering if anyone could shed any light on it?
There is an email button that is very useful for emailing photos, as it automatically resizes photos before sending. It has worked fine for ages until recently, and all I get now is a pop up box saying "the email could not be sent".
I am aprehensive to uninstall Picassa 2 and then reinstall just in case I lose my folder/ album layouts and it all goes pear shaped??
Any ideas?
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Yes gas hobs are very common in France for the reasons mentioned above about power consumption of electric hobs. You can buy hobs here with 3 gas rings and one electric which is a good compromise.
The bottles can be stored in an adjacent kitchen cupboard, as long as there is adequate ventilation into the kitchen. You must not store any bottled gas in basements or cellars below the kitchen level though, for safety reasons. If you store the gas outside then it must be Propane gas; Butane gas is used indoors.
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[quote user="Jo"]Just to clarify things, if someone has a siret number, does that guarentee that they are registered? Someone did mention to me it doesn't automatically mean they are, and I would like to know if I am, inadvertantly, employing someone on the black.[8-)]
[/quote]If they have a Siret or Siren N° it means that they have indeed registered a business of some kind. What that business actually is, and what they are registered for is another matter. The only real way to check if the trade or profession they are excercising is what they are registered for is to ask to see their insurance and or registration details. They should be able to produce; An attestation from their insurance company showing what they are actually insured to do; A registration document (or card) from their local Chambre des Metiers ( or Chambre de commerce if they are profession liberale); and an extract KBIS.
As a guide, we pay around 3000 euros a year just for our business insurance, and are pleased to show it to anyone who asks for proof of our full cover. Alarm bells should ring if someone comes to re-do your roof and their principle activity is gardening or cleaning for instance. This is the link for my business which I give to my clients ;
There are several sites for checking out a siret or siren number . This one is quite good because you can search just by telephone number or surname or other criteria.
Here are some more;
http://avis-situation-sirene.insee.fr/avisituV2/jsp/avis.jsp
http://www.cofacerating.fr/portail/general_accueil/accueil.asp?metier=ALL&geo=ALL&idnav=
The other important things to remember are that may of these sites only list the "activity principle" of the entreprise according to the APE code number they have been issued with, secondary activities are not always shown. A company may well be legally registered for a related actvity that is not listed.
Finally, having a Siren or Siret number is no gurantee of insurance or good workmanship- it only shows that a company is registered. Always try to get recommendations for any major works you require having done. There are many people using false or made up Siret numbers so at least by using the sites mentioned above, you can actually see if a company has a legal entity in France.
I Hope this is useful .
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Quillan Wrote " Punch - Do you know which sequence they will/are use/using, is it 568A or B ? "
Not sure Quillan - isn't one the crossover standard and the other straight through ? I can see myself doing a lot more RJ45 stuff in the near future. I've got all the tooling and plugs and do a bit of network wiring but have yet to do a complete French installation using the new Normes and using the hubs. I've got some new bedside reading with this new book I bought a month or so ago - just can't seem to get round to reading it yet !!
http://www.editions-eyrolles.com/Livre/9782212117585/guide-du-cablage-universel
GTL has been answered I think - apart from the fact it's worth mentioning that the main voltage equipment also shares the GTL with communications equipment. Obligatory on all new installations. A simple French google search will bring up tons of boring info on the subject including diagrams of GTL and sizes etc.
Quillan also wrote " I tried looking up the word repartitateur in my dictionary and on the web but could not find it, could you give us a clue and description. Is this a way also of protecting thinks from lightning strikes and other nasties. Why are they forcing you to run your TV aerial through it, I can understand perhaps the phone but the rest, whats the logic. Also are these items standard items that are put together to make this system and if so what would they be in English?
Blimey you need to buy a new dictionary then - seriously though you spelt it wrong that's all [:D] Basically a repartiteur is a distributor . Has a feed in and then whatever signal is then distributed around the house, nothing to do with lightning strikes although they don't take too kindly to them! Best to install a parafoudre ( that's in the dictionary!) for that. The logic is that all services are grouped togther in one central place in a house for easier maintenace and diagnostics.
The whole idea I suppose is to gradually bring all French housing stock up to a certain standard which is why the Consuel ask for X numbers of points per room etc.
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I used to feel like that 10 years ago, when I was first starting up my business in France but now the situation has got far worse as many more Brits are here trying to earn a crust at the expense of the legitimate ones - No thanks to Amanda Lamb etc. all promoting la vie en rose! I know it's not only the Brits, but from my customer base of 70/30 Brit/French clients, the problem is far worse on the Brit side!
Personally I only have a beef about the workers who are totally au noir, and not the ones who are properly registered and do some cash now and again - particularly those who go on to do the jobs that I may have quoted for.
This site is a good one - with similar bodies to contact as Clair has posted.
http://have-it.com/denonciation/pages/astuces/travail_au_noir.htm
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All new electrical installations for a Consuel inspection that have a permis de construire dated after January 2008 have to have all their "prises de communication" ( Phone , TV, etc ) wired using twisted pair CAT 5 cable and use RJ 45 type of socket at the user end . The old type of phone connection is being phased out, as are TV /SAT points. However in my experience the Consuel will take a long time to actually enforce this.
The French wiring Normes state that all incoming cables for TV, SAT , telephone etc have to arrive in the GTL, and then are distributed to each room . Great system but it will put up the costs of re-wiring due to the extra equipement needed at the GTL end.
Going back to the photo, at first I thought that the OP's photo was a socket for this new application but now with closer inspection I realise it is not. It is definetely an RJ11 socket ( see link below) and then I would guess the blue connector block is for termination of a seperate telephone cable into the box, if required.
I think this socket gives the option of one incoming SAT cable ( perhaps from a combiner/coupler) to give TV and SAT output OR allows two sperate feeds for SAT and TV.
http://www.twenga.fr/offre/0100061093.html
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You're welcome Cathy. I hope you get it sorted as I know how frustrating it can be [:D]
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OK I had a similar problem.
Is your phone service via your livebox ? If so it sometimes gives the impression that you have the mesaggerie service when you haven't and also the welcome tune is different .
Try going on line and actually activating the messagerie using the link that Claire gave. This worked for me. I actually had to activate it two times before I actually got mine to work properly!
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Cathy, the security code is normally only required when you access the messagerie from a distance - ie; an external phone. Are your trying to access your phone in France from the Uk, for instance?
Otherwise you can normally have direct access from the phone that the answerphone is installed on without a security code.
What I can't understand is that someone must have set a code up for you because when you subscribe to the service the code is not activated. It is only via the menu system that you have the option to install a code for remote access.
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sorry double posted - mods please remove
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You can activate /deactivate the messagerie quite simply and also change lots of other settings by the menu system. To deactivate you dial 3103 then menu items 2 - 4 - 2.
If you want to get rid of it completely then you have to ring 1014 and speak to an operator but this should not be necsassry (if you read below).
Si vous souhaitez supprimer définitivement la Messagerie Vocale de votre ligne téléphonique, nous vous invitons à contacter le 1014 (1).
Attention : la désactivation n'est possible que pour la Messagerie Vocale 3103, elle n'est pas disponible avec la Messagerie Vocale Enrichie. Vous pouvez vérifier sur votre facture le type de messagerie à laquelle vous avez souscrit dans la rubrique Abonnements, forfaits et options puis vos options téléphoniques du....
(1) : appel gratuit depuis une ligne fixe France Télécom. Si l'appel est passé depuis une ligne d'un autre opérateur, consultez ses tarifs.
Désactiver La Messagerie Vocale
Depuis votre ligne fixe, procédez de la manière suivante :
- Composez le
- Puis composez le pour Personnaliser votre messagerie
- Puis composez le pour la Gestion de la messagerie
- Puis composez le pour Arrêter la messagerie
Vous entendez Désormais la messagerie ne prendra plus vos appels.
- Raccrochez votre combiné.
La désactivation de votre messagerie prend quelques minutes.
Réactiver La Messagerie Vocale
Depuis votre ligne fixe, procédez de la manière suivante :
- Composez le
Vous entendez Actuellement la messagerie ne prend plus les appels de vos correspondants.
- Appuyez sur la touche pour que votre messagerie prenne à nouveau vos appels.
Vous entendrez Votre messagerie sera réactivée dans quelques instants.
- Raccrochez votre combiné.
La réactivation de votre messagerie prend quelques minutes.
Hope this helps!
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Hello Gardengirl,
Cooker switches as we know them do not exist in France for domestic situations. The cooking appliance is normally connected directly to the supply cables either by plug and socket behind cooker or direct via a connection box.
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Trizzy - One of my French employees fishes for them a lot and uses what is called a "balance" a picture of which is (hopefully) below. You need to put a sardine in the balance to catch them - he swears by this bait. Bring it up ( the balance not the sardine!) every 30 mins and you should have a few each time in the net. Some species are regarded as nusibles but he assures me they are absolutely delicious - better tha homard , and free!
You will need a carte de peche and you can have up to 6 balances on the go. The best time to catcg them is just after daybreak and early evening.
Hope this helps
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Thank you Scotslassie - yes I am fully registered and have good relations with local builders merchants for prices, but the best thing to do is shop around and don't be afraid to ask for a discount ! And remember that if you use a registered artisan for the work you may only pay 5.5% TVA instead of 19.6% [:)]
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Gill, we buy trade and claim the TVA back so am not sure of prices to the public but as a guide I think you would pay around 10/12 euros excluding TVA per 25kg sack.
Quantity used can vary enormously but if you allow 1 sack/m2 of wall area you won't be far off.
The whole job finished below!
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v464/Etvoila/EVANS/DSCF0005-5.jpg[/IMG]
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Just to mention also that there are a great variety of ready mixed products available in a whole range of colours that are lime based and have hydrofuge qualities too.
The photo below is a job we recently did using Weber and Broutins Procalit range ( colour 016) . The great thing about them (and why we tend to use them all the time) is that the colour is consistent which means if you do a patch in January, and don't do any more until the following January - you can gurantee the colour will remain consistent.
We also use tradifarge and sand ocassionally but the colour tends to be too white and the addition of colourants and such like is very difficult to achieve uniform results.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v464/Etvoila/EVANS/DSCF0007-3.jpg[/IMG]
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We do quarterly TVA returns and have similar experiences to Bob and Val2.
For the Regimes réel normal and mini réel the back bottom left hand side of the Cerfa TVA form n° 3310-K-CA3 has a "credit" box numbered 25, 26, and 27, where you can specify a credit de TVA and how much you actually want reimbursed.
For instance last month we had a credit of around 2500 euros due, but on the Cerfa form we only asked for 2000 back thus keeping some in credit for next time when I know that I will probably have a deficit.
To get a refund you have to attach form 3519 which is the "demande de remboursement de credits de taxes"
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Shame about the trees but more importantly how lucky you are to have a pub just across the road ! ( well it looks like a pub anway [:)] )Nothing like that here in rural Mayenne!
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A question if I may....
We are a commune of around 200 inhabitants and there are two lists that have been delivered to our homes . The last time I voted there was only the one list . The first list is all the usuals who we have come to know with a full complement of 11 names.
The 2nd list is a new dynamique guy who has teamed up with a local farmers wife, but there is only these two names on this 2nd list. (By the way our Maire is leaving so we are electing the councillors for the new Maire of our commune.)
My question is this; I want to cross off some names on the first list and leave the second list un marked. Do I then put both lists in my voting envelope ? Or can I add names from the first list to the blank spaces (9 of) on the 2nd list??
The site to check builders credentials
in House Renovations
Posted
Ask them for their ID card from the Chambre de Metiers
Good idea - it's not always a card these days - often just a sheet of paper stamped by the CDM
Forget the Siret No., look at the APE No., this will tell you the activity for which they are registered
Well not quite .......... The Code APE will only tell you the "Principal Activity" and not any seconadary activities that they are registered for, but nevertheless is a good start. Many companies such as mine who employ people and legally trade as Entreprise Générale du Bâtiment are also registered and insured for many other trades. The way to check this is to see their insurance details and either an extract KBIS or the CDM details. Therefore don't discount the SIRET number as one or two of the siret check websites do list secondary actvities.
Ask to see their work and for references, any good professional will be happy to comply.
Good sound advice - the best way to get your artisan. Just make sure the references given are not family and friends!
I do all of this and I yet have to find a client who takes up my offer, thay are lucky because I do high quality work but they might as well be employing a monkey and they would not know until it was too late
Of course we only have your word for that [:D]
Check documentation, insurances and check previous work, don't bother visiting a site to see if they have a siret number as, if they are genuine they should carry all the paperwork and want you to check previous work and clients
I agree to a point but the siret check websites are a good first port of call and should not be discounted as a no go area.
http://www.punchardrenovation.com