Nick Trollope

[quote user="joidevie"]I've currently got an ancient electricity connection which is being replaced soon. The technician who visited mentioned that 3kw could well be enough for the house. I will have Gaz central heation and gaz cooker. 3 bedrooms dishwasher & washing machine. Quite a lot for halogen spots.. A TV and stereo.. Is there a great difference in tarif between the two ? Many thanks. [/quote] Assuming that you are using the gas to heat your water, then 3Kw could do you. Tariffs for 3KW & 6KW are 69€ and 88€ per annum, respectively (TTC!). Electricity is the same price (11c) for either tariff. EDF will do a study, if you ask them.

It is an "inertia" heater, not a storage radiator. It is filled with oil and is designed to even out the on-off cycling of the thermostat by storing a little energy. A storage radiator, as ernie says, is filled with bricks which cool slowly. Any electric heater is as close to 100% efficient as it is possible to be. Put 100W in, get 100W of heat out. It is just a matter of how fast the heat is released - these are joules - Watts x Seconds....

[quote user="Boxmaker"]The going rate for an artisan is between 120 and 200 euros per day depending on the type of work and the tooling that he may have to hire. [/quote] What? Fat chance! No way would I work for that amount - unless you want to pay me cash, of course. Added to which, how many Artisans need to hire equipment? Why don't the Artisans you know have their own equipment? Hah!

How long is a piece of string? What's more, I don't know a plumber or electrician who works on a daily rate - they all work by devis. Get several, if you can.

Sorry Bob, but either I am misunderstanding you, or you indeed are confused. Buy yourself a book - L'installation Electrique is one ofthe best and look at the pictures if you can't read the text. There are ID's (big breakers, earth trip/imbalance detectors) and there are DD's (little breakers, current trip). I've no idea what an "ordinary" disjoncteur is, but I know that you need lots of DDs and several IDs. The regs are the regs. They are not up for negotiation and you either understand them or you don't - there really is no "middle ground". Also, I can't see why you would object to double pole switching - apart from on cost grounds, of course! Find yourself a decent electrician! Bear in mind that, from next March, electrical inspections will become part of the house sales/rental package.

I must admit that I buy pre-wired gaine - I can get it in all sorts of combinations, for feeds, switches, heating etc etc. But, I have never had a problem pulling wires through gaine. One of the basic "pricipals" of gaine is that the wires must be replaceable, in situ. Therefore, fit the empty gaine, then pull the wires through - if you can't then you have done the installation of the gaine wrong. If you have a straight, non-installed run of gaine to wire, doing it on your own is simplicity - cut the gaine and fils to length, attach one end of the pull-cord (supplied, unless you are trying to cable 50mm+ gaine, in which case you should replace the tire-fil with a piece of polyprop rope) to a soild object and the other end to the wires, then walk away taking the gaine with you. The wires will slide inside the gaine as easy as. Don't push the wires, as this will cause them to kink and catch the sides of the gaine. Use a commercially-available lubricant if you feel the need. Bearing in mind that the wires can occupy no more than 30% of the gaine, they will be a loose fit.

I believe you are confusing disjoncteurs and interrupteurs. You installation needs a number of interrupteur differentials which is set by the size of the property (and the type of heating) - these are rated at 25, 40 or 63A. This is not a trip rating, but a current-carrying capability. They "trip" when there is an imbalance (the differential bit). A house of >100SqM with electric heating needs 5 of these (minimum). Connected to these are the disjoncteur differentials - as many as the installation needs. These are rated from 2 to 32A and are current-trip devices. ID's and DD's do very different jobs and are both essential (mandatory in most circumstances). A cooker outlet should be fed with a 32A DD - regardless of the setting of the EDF breaker, for the reasons that JR states above. A typical large installation can contain 5 IDs and (perhaps) 30 DD's (plus various other control devices), so I'd suggest that your interperetation that Schneider are producing commercial hype is.... specious? Use an electrician!

Word of mouth really - don't know your area so can't be of any specific help. I would venture to suggest that, unless your roof terrace was specifically designed to carry this sort of weight I would find a competant (ask around!) builder to look at strengthening the roof.

Assuming that you are both of you are their parents (not children from previous relationships) and only 1 of you is working (and they are under 16? - or 18?), then you will only get 1 SS number, which will "cover" all of you - in his name. You will get 2 Carte Vitales (assuming he does more than 60 hours/month), you will get a choice of whose card carries the kids.

Our Jacuzzi holds 650L of water and weighs about 250Kg with all the pumps etc. This is the best part of a tonne with me and the missus in it. If you are planning to put this much weight on anything other than the ground, you will need a good structural engineer to look at the existing structure (which will need beefing up), or a builder to build a support from scratch.

I've got a Reciva WiFi radio (bought from Currys) that works well (in France). Huge number of stations available, plus the "listen again" service from the BBC. Only problem is drop-outs which sem to be caused by Wanadoo's infrastructure bandwidth limitations at peak times. Don't think I've got a download limit with Wanadoo - never had that sort of problem, anyway. Interesting to note that the box was plastered with "the services available to this product may be limited in France", or words to that effect, without specifying what or by whom. Haven't seen any limitations...

BT offer a remote divert service that can redirect anywhere from a standard BT line (so also from a lo-call or freephone number). The called party pays the redirect charge and you can control the redirect from anywhere. That help, as I'm not exactly sure what you are asking?

Aren't we talking about 2 different things? Can't answer the 1st question (is your OH employed by an employer?). I ask because CESU is slightly different, but the bulletin you receive from CESU is the equivalent of an employed persons payslip. Most (non-CESU) employers get 3rd party organisations to do their payments.

It's a social security number, and the process of registering will cause one to be issued to him. So, no!

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"] Now here's the real kicker, for face recognition, the photo has to be full face, no expression and eyes OPEN !!!  t [/quote] The "eyes open" rule does not apply to babies (all of whom, after all, have the same colour eyes). Don't know if this applies to Eire who are, of course, at liberty to make their own rules...

Thanks both. It certainly pays to keep up with the government. When did these come into force?

[quote user="jeanht"]If he is registered you can go to the Chambre d'Artisans.  They are there to help in disputes (as well as other more joyful things of course!). [/quote] If you mean the Chambre de Metiers, then no they are not. They are a registration and training body for Artisans.

Maybe I am being a little simplistic, but if you reside in a French territory, then you are liable to French law. What has the UK got to do with it? Are you a UK citizen? (Not that that makes any difference). Most French o/s territories are not in the EU, so I doubt if they could help. Creating a UK company does not entitle you to trade in France automatically, and I suspect that property rentals is a regulated business in France and requires registration here - as I suspect you have discovered.

Expect an invoice, which must be detailed, unless it agrees exactly with the devis (or devisss). It is rarely automatic, but insist on a photocopy of his insurance attestation - this will identify the insurer and the policy, should you require them  in 9 years time. Make sure you have signed (and have a copy of) the attestation for reduced-rate TVA, if appropriate.

Val, I am a little confused about these "government attestations" that you have mentioned on a couple of occasions. We (my accountant & I) have checked with my local centre des impots and they deny the existance of a pro-forma. I just use a form of words originally supplied by the impots. Have you got a link? Or a source?

It isn't as simple as that. The rules are very complex and as M Le Plombier alludes to, if the "renovation" is to more than 50% of the building (or if it is not habiatation at the moment), then the TVA is at 19.6% (otherwise 5.5%). The final arbiters will be the Hotel des Impots - if he shows them plans they will give him an accurate assement.

[quote user="Gluestick"]On another aspect, that's some workshop you have Nick! 150 Sq Ms? What do you do there? Overhaul Jumbos? I'm deeply jealous! I'm going  (Hoping!) to double the size of mine: but then it's still only 50 Sq Ms!  [/quote] It is the old village garage - orginally lit by 1 60W light bulb... Do it it? Nothing - you know what happens; the crap expands to fill the space available.... Flourescents every time....

Plenty of work for builders. I doubt if a surveying degree will do you any good at all. Registration is easy, but very, very expensive. Ensure that you have enough money to live on for at least a year before you start. You don't say what your French is like, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue! Buildings look the same in any language! I get about 75% of my work from Brits (I am an electrician), some of my builder friends work exclusively for Brits, some don't.

If you are worried about the wiring, then I wouldn't use oil-filled radiators plugged into dodgy sockets! How warm are you trying to keep the place, and why? Yes, power sockets can be wired with 1,50mm, but only if protected by a 16A breaker (not a fuse). I'd reconsider your options, TBH.

[quote user="vanessa"] However I have had trouble doing doubles because the small distance between both holes means the centre is not strong enough for the grippers, maybe someone will advise on this. [/quote] Simple. Don't use sockets with griffes. They haven't been legal (except in renovations - i.e when you already have a box) since 2004. No way can you fit 2 sockets with griffes in a double placo box safely. Actually, you can, but I'm not going to tell you how because you shouldn't.