UK Electrical Appliances

[Lisat]

Hi, I'm new to this forum although have been subscribing to Living France Magazine for a few months now.

We've just made an offer on a house near Gorron and are hoping to be over in France by the summer. This may be silly question but do UK appliances such as coffee machines, fridges, stereos etc work fine in France? If so is it better to buy loads of adaptors or strip off the UK plugs and replace with French ones?

thanks

Lisa

[Cat]

Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum

UK appliances mostly work fine here in France, as the voltage is more or less the same at around 220 to 240 volts (as opposed to USA, Canada where they use 110 volts).

The one thing I can think of that won't necessarily work is an electric cooker, best to leave that behind in the UK and buy another one here if need be.  Your TV may, or may not, work as you expect over here, as France uses a different system, but you'd be best to take a look at the TV, Satellite, Internet forum or FAQ for that, as they are full of useful information on the subject.

I know there are some people that have lived here for years, and still use loads of adaptors (even one who has had his house wired up to use UK 3-pin electrical wall sockets,... horror).  Personally I ordered a a boxful of french plugs back in the UK before I moved over here, as it was cheaper that actually buying them over here (there was a thread on one of the forums about this I think, last year).

For any "sensitive" equipment, TV's, Digiboxes etc, it's definitely worth looking out for the surge protected power extension leads, as thunderstorms can do very nasty things to your equipment, and the french electrical system isn't as protective as that in the UK.  I always take the belt-n-braces approach and unplug the TV at the first crack of thunder

All of this has been covered very recently, and it might interest you to have a read of the messages, as it will save everyone posting the same stuff up again

http://forums.livingfrance.com/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=288&messageid=106826#bm105292

 

 

[Lisat]

Thanks Cathy. I had planned on bringing my cooker as it was quite expensive about 6 years ago or so. Any idea how much they are in France. I did notice that all the microwaves seem to incorporate grills, couldn't see any that were simply a microwave. Is it normal not to have a full oven I wonder?

Where did you get your French plugs from?

[Cat]

Thanks Cathy. I had planned on bringing my cooker as it was quite expensive about 6 years ago or so. Any idea how much they are in France.

'Fraid not, I'm a gas devotee when it comes to cooking, even if nowadays it does have to come from a bottle   You could try looking on the Conforama http://www.conforama.fr/  or But http://www.but.fr/ sites for a rough idea though.

I did notice that all the microwaves seem to incorporate grills, couldn't see any that were simply a microwave. Is it normal not to have a full oven I wonder?

Don't think so, everybody I know (bar one) has an oven, and the one that doesn't is in an appartment with a tiny kitchen.  Double ovens tend to be harder to find than back in the UK though.

Where did you get your French plugs from?

http://www.cpc.co.uk/   They were cheapest (at the time, last year) for bulk orders of 10 or more plugs, with very fast delivery too!  Use their search facility to search for "european plugs".  They also stock phone/modem adaptors, if you need them.

[Hagar]

One potential problem with bringing UK appliances to France is "inrush current".  Many appliances draw lots more current, very briefly, when they are first turned on.

In the UK this is rarely a problem but in France , where there are relatively low levels of maximum current you can draw on most domestic supplies, it can cause your supply to trip out regularly.

I understand that electrical appliances designed for the French market take this into account (i.e they are either designed initially to limit inrush current or have some protection built in).

I believe this is particularly true of cheaper appliances - e.g toasters, kettles, etc. I know from experience that hairdryers can be a problem.

rgds

Hagar

[Johndeb]

Dear all

Having worked for a couple of UK electrical manufacturers, I can assure you that the majority of kettles and toasters etc..across Europe come from the same factories in the far east thus no difference other than plugs.   I've seen stock moved from Italy to France and then to the UK where we were trying to find homes for it.  If you stick with a good brand you won't go far wrong.

Regarding Cookers, I understand these work to the same principle but if in doubt, why not phone the UK head office customer service department and ask the question.

Deb

 

 

[Ron Avery]

"I did notice that all the microwaves seem to incorporate grills, couldn't see any that were simply a microwave." 

I have had no problem with any UK appliances that I brought over, all work absolutely fine and have been gradually changed over to French plugs

You can buy a normal simple microwave here.  There are bargains to be had in the supermarkets and from my experience they are much better quality than comparable priced ovens in the UK.  Le Clerc, Hyper U and BUT are all worth a look,

If you can wait until late August - Rentre time -  when the colleges and schools go back, you will see some amazingly cheap electrical goods on offer.

[Lisat]

Thanks everybody for your replies. I'm reassured now that most of my appliances will be fine.

cheers

Lisa

[Alcazar]

Our property is only a holiday home at the mo, so some stuff goes there and back. Those things retain their UK plugs, everything that is staying gets a French plug. Adaptors tend to be flimsy and SOOOOOOOOOOO easy to lose

I'm not a big fan of French plugs, regarding them as flimsy compared with a good UK one, so ALL mine are the dearer ones from Legrand, which I buy from Mr Bricolage, Briconauts etc at about €1.35 each. They have a good cable clamp system, which adds strength to the connection.

Now if only someone could get the French to use a UK SOCKET .........I find the French ones so fiddly at times, especially older ones

Anything BOUGHT for use in the UK recently (say 10 years) will be CE marked, so OK in France too. The problem MAY come if/when it needs repair work

The trouble is (well, possible trouble for me, anyway,) that UK prices are MUCH lower than French ones on similar goods, so wifey is always keen to bring with us.

Alcazar

[Nick Trollope]

Anything BOUGHT for use in the UK recently (say 10 years) will be CE marked, so OK in France too. The problem MAY come if/when it needs repair work

CE marking is about European standards for emissions, safety and the like. It does not authorise use where a "higher" standard is required, such as BS (in the UK), NF (in France) etc. So, some (but not all) electrical equipment (eg.) will need a NF mark, for use in France, as it would need a BS kitemark for use in the UK.

Or something like that.

Certainly true about repairs, tho. However, who repairs a £10 toaster (or a 250E hob, for that matter)?

 

[La Guerriere]

We've had the maison secondaire in Normandy for (I think) about 12 years now. Electic appliances seem to pretty interchangeable, insofar as smally stuff is concerned. Irons, microwaves, kettles, vacuum cleaners, hifi etc all seem to qquite international, and we have frequnetly purchased whatever is "best buy" UK or France and taken it with us.

Some observations however:

a) French cookers whether of the Gaz or Electricite persuasion never seem to have separate grills. If you like the grill, take your cooker with you.

b) French washing machines: they seem to love the top-loaders, which are fine, but you do need to be careful loading, or they leak

Jim La Guerriere

 

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

Hi,

This is a bit technical, but can affect electric ovens.

Some house supplies in France can be 3 phase (this is being phased out, it seems - groan). Ours is. That means that instead of having a single 60 amp supply, you may have 3 x 20 amps. Some high power appliances (electric hot water tanks, ovens etc) bought here are available in 3 phase versions and they'll be attached to the mains with special 3 phase sockets. This can mean that it's dodgy trying to run a UK appliance designed for a single phase supply, on a 3 phase one. Firstly it can badly unbalance the phases which can throw out the circuit breaker.

It's not too serious, because afaik, you can apply to EDF to be converted to monophase. However, it's something to be aware of.

Oh... and you can't get a double oven in France. So you may WELL be tempted to bring yours from the UK.

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Anything BOUGHT for use in the UK recently (say 10 years) will be CE marked, so OK in France too. The problem MAY come if/when it needs repair work CE marking is about European standards for emissio...[/quote]

You are right Nick, the kitemark/CE/NF marking regime is as clear as mud.  But in a nutshell the kitemark and NF within the UK and France respectively indicate compliance with national standards for health, safety, environment and consumer protection.  The CE mark has been the mark of safety (but not necessarily quality in certain types of products), within the EU since 1992.  NF marks within France are a sign of assured quality control for items that have not been regulated across Europe as yet.

All goods entering France should conform to French and European standards. Although one of the goals of the European Union is to harmonise standards across its member countries (e.g., CE marking), many product standards have yet to be harmonised. Where an EU standard is non-existent, French standards apply. The Association Francaise de Normalisation (AFNOR) is the French authority responsible for establishments of standards. It also is the issuing agency for the NF (Normes Francaises) marking, which is required to be displayed on regulated products offered for commercial sale on the French market. It indicates that a product complies with applicable French Directives related to health, safety, environment and consumer protection.

 But in short, the vast majority of UK sold electrical goods, kitemarked or CE marked, will work without any trouble in France provided that you change the plug

[Bobc]

"Oh... and you can't get a double oven in France. So you may WELL be tempted to bring yours from the UK. All the best
Ian
La Souvigne Corrèze
http://www.souvigne.com"

Double ovens certainly are available in France:

Neff U1641
Smeg DO10PSS
De Dietrich 448

To name but three.

Not popular due to their power consumption.

Regards,

Bob Clarke
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux