Household Appliances

[mand]

Do UK household appliances work in France? TV's, stereos, videos, kitchen appliances?? Is it just a case of changing the plug and away you go? Any comments please. Thanks.

[cslee]

Basically everything works except TV and Videos unless they work on SECAM (one of our TV's - a portable one we used in a caravan - works in France) Search the archives for more info

[medler1]

Sainsburys in UK have a PAL plus SECAM 28" Nicam Stereo TV on offer at the moment. It's a Daewoo flattish screen model (DTE-28A) with all the bells and whistles at just 199. The changeover to SECAM is all via on-screen menus and tuning the receiver to French stations doesn't affect your SAT / DVD or Video setup which all go in via Scart sockets or the front connector.
I think normal price is just 250 but at 199 they're a steal.

[Liz]

As stated elsewhere your appliances will work. But one potential problem may lie in the provision of an earth to your sockets. If you are taking on a house where the electrics have not recently been upgraded you may find that you only have two- pin sockets. Hopefully the previous owners will have had a washing machine and other kitchen appliliances and there is a 3 pin socket so that you can plug in straight away.

We found that we had no earthed sockets upstairs so that we couldn't initially plug in the computer where we wanted to You will probably need the proverbial 'qualified electrician' to run in an earth and you may want to get the whole lot upgraded anyway.

Another problem may lie with the installation of that cherished light fitting carefully transported from the UK. Older French houses do not have an earth on the lighting circuit but many light fittings, including a lot you buy in France, require an earth.