Pommier Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 In our 'new' house 2 of the sockets in the kitchen (one of them where the cooker used to be) are like the big cooker sockets, but when my husband investigated, instead of having the normal thick cooker cable to them, they have 3 live feeds, 1 neutral (in the centre) and one earth (all 2.5). Is this normal? Will this be suitable for our new electric hob (when we get round to fitting the kitchen). In the fusebox none of the fuses are above 20amps.The house was completely renovated in the 1980's by French builders.Many thanksCheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 It's a three-phase socket, normally used for industrial or agricultural machinery.You could wire up your hob to it if you know what you are doing, but if you don't you could easily destroy it (or even yourselves) by putting something over 400V where 230V is meant to go (or worse).Best to get a qualified electrician to replace the socket with the right one for your hob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracteurtom Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Whooooo stop....... that sounds like a 3 phase socket. Measure the voltage between any 2 live feeds, and it should read 400V - see warning in next para. If you don't know what you're doing (and by the fact you asked this question, you don't) Don't Mess!! Be very careful with 3 phase electric - it can bite......very hard, and I would recommend you call in a professional to connect your hob.pcwhizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugsy Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 It's handy if you want to run your lathe in the kitchen though...........................[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 It is a 3-phase socket - head the warnings already given.French cookers were often 3 phase (some still are). You could run a single-phase hob and/or oven from any 1 of the lives plus the neutral & earth, but don't because the supply probably isn't up to it.Ask an electrician (like me, but I am very busy at the mo...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 My husband said he suspected 3 phase, but it seemed odd as there's nothing else 3 phase in the house. At a previous house everything was 3 phase and we had to get EDF in to change the meter.What a pest, as itèll mean running a new cable from the fusebox (which is about as far away from the kitchen as possible!)Many thanks for the replies.Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 I've looked at the electric bill (yes, I should have looked at it sooner!), and it says we have 9kw, disjoncteur set at 15A, tension 230/400 volts triphasé.If we ask EDF to change us to single phase what are the imlications? At present everything works ok. Would we need to have the house rewired? Would we need a new consumer unit? Would the chauffe eau be single or 3 phase?Any advice please!!Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juswundrin Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 HiOur chauffe-eau did stop working when we were switched from 3- to mono-phase, it then just needed two small tweaks; changing the wiring at the chauffe-eau itself, which I did myself (there was a simple wiring diagram underneath), and a change at the fusebox (€20 by the plumber, so I can't tell you exactly what was involved). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracteurtom Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hi,Suggest you give EDF a call, but before you do that have a think what you want to achieve. 3x15A (9kVA) is low for a modern household and if you really want an electric hob then you would have to upgrade this anyway. EDF have the annoying policy of charging for the abonnement based on the supply rating - 9kVA in your case. Whilst this may be good for people with little demand, its not good for the modern household with high demand. Are you sure you have no 3 phase devices - well pump or water heater may be? 3 phase has advantages ( speak to any DIY workshop owner in the UK running on single phase - they'd give good money to be able to run 3 phase motors, without those 'orrible convertors). But for a domestic household, sans motors, 3 phase is mostly a pain, dangerous and expensive to set up.If you stick with 3 phase, consider a gas hob / oven with a single electric plate (quite common in France). Also, look at how the phases are used and try to even out the load. Warning, ensure the earth bonding is good, cross bond all metal work and test (tug the terminations!). Last thing you want is an earth leakage problem on 2 adjacent devices plugged into different phases!!! If you move to single phase a certain amount of rewiring in the distribution box will be required along with new single phase RCDs. For an electric hob / oven a 6 mm cable is required. Do not use English T&E, its interdit in France.In conclusion, you need an electrician to survey and advise you based on your requirements. What's certain is that the existing set up needs a good look over for your best interests and safety. It would not surprise me, if those 3 phase sockets are connected directly to the EDf disjoncteur with only 500mA of leakage protection (more than enough to kill you........). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 Can I ask you, Juswundrin, when your chauffe eau was on 3 phase did it have 3 live wires to it? Our chauffe eau has only 1 live to it, so does that mean it's single phase?Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracteurtom Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Still on line Cheryl, quick reply. If the water heater has only 1 line connection and a neutral - its single phase! Look at the connections, maybe a drawing in the termination cover? A 3 phase / singlephase heater will have a series of straps to configure the heater as single phase (all elements in parallel) or delta (400v 3 ph, no neutral) or maybe star for 230V 3 phase (neutral in the middle). Difficult to explain without a drawing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracteurtom Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Sorry Cheryl, need to add to the above post. It could be 2 phase!! 400V 2 line connections. You need to measure it out to be certain. This is why you really should get a pro in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juswundrin Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 "Can I ask you, Juswundrin, when your chauffe eau was on 3 phase did it have 3 live wires to it?"From memory (this was 3 years ago now, and I can't get to it right now); yes, there were three.The diagram on ours was very straightforward (otherwise, I wouldn't have done it myself). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 [quote user="PCWhizz"]Sorry Cheryl, need to add to the above post. It could be 2 phase!! 400V 2 line connections. You need to measure it out to be certain. This is why you really should get a pro in.[/quote]This is very very unlikely, I'm afraid. Advice about pro's good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Many thanks for all the very helpful adviceCheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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