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French electrics again !


Choochoo
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Hi everyone

Just thought I would start a debate. Nearly finished the rewire of our old house. Can anyone tell me two things :

Why do they not make an internally connected double plug socket, it`s such a pain putting two together, the boxes are so small. I think they assume that all electricians are midgets or small children.

Why are the sockets not available switched ? in these days when we are being urged not to leave things on standby etc. isnt it time they did ?

One reflection: I know the sockets work OK, but I dont like that big metal spike sticking out waiting for little fingers to touch it, these sockets are so flimsy, if there should be an internal short ..................

What do you think ??

Regards to all

John

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I can only answer one of your questions with a definate answer. The spike, waiting for little fingers to touch, is actually earth and at zero volts, so no danger.

The answer to the other question about sockets is that there are double pre-wired sockets but apparently the phase and neutral pins are reversed on one side. For example. The left socket may have the phase on the right (normal for UK and europe) and the right socket may have the phase on the left.

It is possible, according to my schemas (diagrams) for France, to have a switch in series with the socket, to provide switching.

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As Fulcrum says, the Legrand "Neptune" double socket fits into a single box, but does reverse L & N on one side - not that this is important on a French instalation.

Legrand also do a pre-wired double (& triple etc) socket in their "Mosaic" range - quite pricey, but very convenient (I prefer to use a few old pieces of wire & save the money)....

 

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[quote user="nicktrollope"]

As Fulcrum says, the Legrand "Neptune" double socket fits into a single box, but does reverse L & N on one side - not that this is important on a French instalation.

[/quote]

Makes you wonder why they bother having different colour wires for live and neutral. Recently looked at consumer unit in our house. Local electrician, trying to win a house rewiring job, had told me he had wired the latest installations (boiler and washing machine sockets) so they at least should be fine: but sure enough, he had connected the brown wires to the N terminals and the blue to the P! And the new earth wire he had installed from the consumer unit to ground was the skinniest bit of cable I have ever seen (I have left it there but have run a decent guage earth wire through as well to a new earth rod - his wire simply disappears underground and previous owner has covered it with a huge dollop of concrete, being part of the path, so impossible to see what it connects to.)  

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[quote user="Choochoo"]

 

Hi everyone

Why are the sockets not available switched ? in these days when we are being urged not to leave things on standby etc. isnt it time they did ?

Regards to all

John

[/quote]

Why not switched - because French systems operate differently and isolation at the board cut both phase and neutral, unlike many UK systems.

Things on standyby - welcome to the 2006 urban myth of the year - the  wasted energy by running on stand-by is converted to heat.  So all the while you are running a central heating system (or even non central) the standby is reducing the demand on your boiler - by a few Watts.  Only in deepest summer (or Pheonix Arizona) does a stand-by actually waste energy.  Although I will admit it may not be the most cost effective way to heat your home.

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I cannot think of many appliances today, which lack their own On/Off switch.

The user nomally has the option of leaving an appliance (e.g. T.V.) on either "Off" or "Standby".

So, in France (and the UK actually!), simply leave the apliance switched off and it will consume no power.

If still concerned about safety, unplug it![;-)]

 

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