New electrical installation, what next???

[Washy]

Readers over the years will be familiar with our story. We are renovating a very old water mill in 11, at last we are giving in now and getting electricity put on....after 10 years I cannot live without a freezer!!

We have recieved the Devis from EDF, about 800 euros. We are surrounded by pylons but have no idea which they are going to connect from. They say we must have everything done to conform with the CONSUEL, and agree to completing their work within 15 days of hearing from us that we have completed our work, but give no idea of what we have to do next. Do we HAVE to do this through a french electrician or can we buy the relevant boxes and do the work ourselves? My husband is very proficient with electricity but obviously not registered. Also they (EDF) have not said from which pylon they are going to make the connection, or where to situate our meter, etc. Do we have to buy the meter? Obviously we would prefer to do as much as we can ourselves, so any advice gratefully received. Thanks

[BJSLIV]

If you have received a quite of 800 euros then someone has visited the site. When we had the survey donewe made sure that we were there to suggest improvements (ie cost reductions) to what was being proposed. You need to track down the technician who surveyed the work, and find out what he has planned.

As far as the Consuel is concerned they are an independant body who issue a certificate saying that the internal wiring, ie the part beyond the main fuseboard meets the required standard.

In theory they come out and perform an inspection, but for many new-build projects, if the work is carried out by a major recognised electrician then he is allowed to certify his own work, and the work is only checked on a sample basis.

This won't apply to you and hence an obvious problem.

If you have carried out the work yourself they are likely to want to go through it with a fine tooth-comb. I am sure others will let you know how they got on. Its not insuperable but if you drop for a "jobsworth" you could have fun! and they cahrge for reinspections.

Edf will not do any work connecting your supply until they have the certifaicate in their hands.

As far as the actual connection is concerned the norm is to fit a box at the edge of the property, which allows remote reading. You will have seen the yellow box hidden in the hedge, dented by delivery vans....There is then a cable from there to near your fuse board where they mount the fuse, and the meter , a link to the fuse-board that you have fitted (aren't they big? 40 circuits, two-way relays, programmers, disjoncteurs, delestage etc etc) and hey-presto.

[Blackadder<IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR>Blackadder<BR>Keighley and Creuse]

How about doing the work yourself and then paying a local fully qualified electrician to check it all and hopefully give a signed declaration?

We're about 10 years behind you in our works and have just started the mammoth task! 4 walls and a roof.

[Dave]

We had EDF come to our house shortly after buying to do a survey for a new meter, we agrred the Devis and within two weeks two really friendly guys came along, asked where we would like the meter and promptly installed it. They left us two large wire 'tails' from the meter with a domino block on the end expllained how to isolate it by the flick of a switch and then told us that we could simply connect wander lead to the 'tails' to run our power tools, kettle etc from. We quickly learned not to use too many high energy consumers at one time (don't put the kettle on with the toaster at the same time, it simply trips the main disjoncteur every time, as far as we understood we ahve only a 3kw 'builders' supply at the moment but when we are ready can apply to have the supply increased, thus far NO problems...The French Tax Man...now there's another story...!

 

bon courage! 

[Guerambault]

We are in the process of entirely re-wiring our house and have got as far as the ground floor. The main electric cable comes into the house via an overhead cable which is attached to the house by way of ugly lumps of metal. We asked EDF for a quote to run the cable underground, move the meter and the on/off switch (can't remember what you call it) in the house to the other side of the kitchen. No problem, the engineer who came to look at the work was very helpful and explained exactly what we had to do before they would complete their work. We used an electrician and the speed with which he re-wired the ground floor and took all other wires upstairs ready for next year was worth every penny!As the house is very old, he used some very expensive equipment to drill through the stone and lent my husband a angle grinder with a diamond cutter so that he could chase a route up the walls in order to hide the wiring. Couldn't afford to buy these sort of tools and hiring them means you have to work flat out to keep costs down. Can't wait to get rid of the two old meters on the outside of the house and the two old on/off boxes on the inside. Rollon the 29th!

[Moulin]

If you are wiring a ‘new’ (first time it has had electricity) property yourself it is normal practice to do as little as possible, (a few sockets, some lights, water heater etc,) get it inspected and certified, then apply to EDF for a connection. Once you have permanent power you can install everything else.

 

The reason for this is cost. A qualified electrician cannot afford to put his neck on the line by giving you a certificate if they have not done a thorough test and inspection on all your work. To do this on a large renovation with all ‘mod-cons’ is a considerable task and could take several days, all of which you are paying for!  Obviously if you are not confident in what you are doing then you should seek advice before you start and then get it all inspected afterwards, but if you are competent this is the way to do it.

 

 

Now for a question:

We have an old property with some original wiring that is questionable to say the least. I am slowly rewiring it all as we renovate but I would like to relocate the meter now.  Does anyone know if I need to get an inspection done on the entire property before I ask to have the meter relocated, or is it only the new cables between the ‘fusebox’ and the new meter position?

[Alexis]

I asked about moving the meter here when we moved in.  It is in the bathroom......

Was told that it would be no trouble but I had to talk to the technician.

Still in bathroom as haven't got around to it yet.  With all the fuse boxes, and about a thousand wires.

[ChrisnJules]

Hi everyone. My wife Julia and I have recently purchased a property in the Vendee and have started the task of rennovating.  Fortunately we have electricity already on tap.  I have a couple of questions though:  Firstly, I understand that we are rated at 15A , which seems very low.  We don't expect to be using an electric cooker (bottled gas) and will only use electricity for water heating and the odd free standing heater, plus normal domestics. What is the 'normal' house supply that we should request if its not 15A ?

Also, the house is already partialy wired and all cables return to a small fuse box with just 4 breakers.  I wired my own house in England and although I am not an electrician (I am however an Electronics engineer) I did intend to wire up the French house myself using the hub and spur techniques rather than ring mains (which I belive are banned ?). two questions then :  1) Can I just swap out the fuse\breaker box with a DIY one from the local Brico Depot ? 2) as I already have a connection, will I need to get all of my wiring inspected when I have finished or does this only apply to totally new installations ?

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Hi everyone. My wife Julia and I have recently purchased a property in the Vendee and have started the task of rennovating. Fortunately we have electricity already on tap. I have a couple of questio...[/quote]

Hello

15A is a 3Kw supply and is the minimum supply you can get. The larger the supply, the more expensive the standing charges. If you can cope with 15A (i.e. no electric heating/cooking) then stick with it. Otherwise, visit you local EDF office & ask them to upgrade you to; 6Kw, 9Kw, 12Kw or whatever. If you give them a list of all your electrical appliances, then they will recommend the most appropriate tariff.

I too am an electronics eng. Firstly, forget everything you know about UK wiring, 'cos little of it applies to France. You can simply replace the Tableau with one bought from the local Brico. Get yourself a copy of Electricite pas a pas from the local DIY shop, it has lots of illustrations & is very useful.

Few basic rules;

All cabling (in each circuit) must be the same thickness and double insulated (hence no UK T&E).

Limited number of sockets per circuit (fused 16A or with a 20A trip) - 4 to 7-ish

You may need lightning protection (depends on where you are).

etc etc etc

You will not need to get the rewiring inspected, except that, if you decide to change the supply and/or meter, then EDF may use a contractor & want his work inspected by the CONSUEL. This happened to me (new meter & uprated supply), but I refused to pay the 90E, so the CONSUEL refused to inspect, so everyone went home happy ......

 

[ChrisnJules]

nick,

 

Many thanks for the speedy reply - very comprehensive and useful.  my first time trying out the forum and a winner straight away

[zeb]

Hello Chris and welcome to LF!

You may find that you will have to get EDF out to upgrade as 3 Kw is VERY basic and with normal modern household appliances your leccy may keep tripping off. Ours did whenever we had TV, washing machine, f/f, lights, and kettle going at the same time. Hairdryer definitely made it trip off.

EDF came for nothing and upgraded it to 6 Kw - it's only tripped off during a storm since. Not sure how much extra standing charge we pay but worth it as I got fed up with scrabbling about in the dark!

regards.....helen