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gingeLaura J
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There are lots of books (in French) about the French wiring regs. A quick search of the Forum will throw up plenty. And info on wiring.

The French regs are not available in English (apart from info on these forums).

If it is your property, you are at liberty to wire it yourself (with or without UK or French qualifications). I would suggest you read up on French regs as they are totally different to UK ones. If you want to set up as an Electrician here, then your UK qualifications may, or may not be of use!

If you don't have a supply, then getting one can be a problem, if you don't understand the rules.

 

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Plus the fact that if CONSUEL are to beinvolved, the name and address of the installateur has to be recorded on all paperwork and they do ask for an official cachet too.Still along that route, there are new norms to be adhered too that an english electrician would not know about so you need that info as well to pass the Cde C.
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Thanks to val 2 for her positive input...  on the other hand if you tell the consuel that you did it yourself thay will test it for you and give you a pass or fail...

Now all you have to do is find out how its done.... its not rocket science...I did it in my 3 cottages and had them all passed straight away...

good luck

monti

www.renovations24dordogne.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you do the electrics yourself, does everything have to be 'open to view' for the consuel to approve it (eg plasterboard not put up on one side of stud wall)?  My husband isn't an electrician, but a very able engineer, who plans to do the first fix electrics, or even the full works.  What do we need to do to comply?  Electrics is an area he is very cautious of so may only go as far as first fix and get an electrician in to finish off.

Thanks for advice

Ewa

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The individuals from the CONSUEL  vary between :

Total 'jobsworths' who pick up,on your breadcrumb sins and see their job as ensuring that all electricalwork is done by qualified electriens

Decent people who do their best to help you and point out both problems and possible solutions.

With the latter photographs of the walls before closure and good wiring diagrams will help   

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I am currently wiring the first of many apartments that I am creating, I tried to get quotes from electricians but none turned up over a 5 month period, I was, like your husband, an engineer and had also taken the basic exam for the I.E.E. 16th edition.

I then offered to pay an electrician for his advice so I could do the work myself, this is working well for me.

Using his advice I ran all the cables and got him back to inspect them before plasterboarding (which I am doing now in fact).

The electrical installation has to be finished for the Consuel to inspect and hence most will be covered with plasterboard, as for what goes on behind it was explained to me as "ni vu, ni connu" or "neither seen nor known". I also checked out the electrical work of  other houses that are being built and found that the electricians were cutting some appalling corners contrary to the Normes and relying on "ni vu, ni connu".

Before the final fix I am going to offer to work, for free, with the electrician on a similar job, before wiring the meter and the distribution boards for the flats.

I hope that you can find someone like I have, I believe that when tradesmen don't turn up it is because they are booked up and too busy, but the offer of argent noire and pastis for some advice without any commitment may change that.

I will of course ask him again to inspect my work before the consuel, he did explain that he pays a much lower rate for the inspection but that as he did not do the work (and naturally doesn't want to be judged by or responsible for it) I should make the application.

He is also going to help me create the dossier for consuel which I think will be the hardest part, or perhaps I am getting confused with the dossier for the EDF connection to the distribution board.

I hope this will give your husband the confidence to do the work himself.

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Wonderful advice J.R. - thank you! Our French isn't too good and our village has no facilities so we neither can communicate with our neighbours (when they're here as not all live in the village full time) nor pass the time with locals in the bar... however, we have a lovely neighbour who may point us in the right direction of a helpful electrician!

I think your advice will give my husband some helpful guidance as to what he may expect and will tackle a fair bit of the wiring himself (it's amazing how your French mproves when all you have to read is an electrical book purely in French!!

Our first bathroom is appearing gradually, which is exciting, and hopefully electrics will follow very soon.

Thanks once again.
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I am just about to plasterboard my bathroom and have been  carefully checking to make sure all is well as I will have to get a consuel inspection for the EDF connection..

As one of the first postings said, if you already have an electric supply you can do the work as you do not need consuel.

In my region (I don't know if it is the same throughout France) when you sell a house you now need an electrical inspection as well as asbestos and lead.

The report highlights and non conformitys to the current normes, in my case everything as the house still has the original 80 year old wiring.

With this in mind I reccomend that you read up and try todo everything by the (current!) book, for bathrooms the regs are similar to the UK with different requirements for zones a,b and c from the bath/shower tray. There is also a requirement for a seperate "liason equipotentiale" (earth bonding) which must be 2.5mm if in a gaine, or trunking, or 4mm if surface run.

You can PM me if you need any other information or to talk

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Why should the earth bonding be in a larger csa if not in a gaine?

I'm not disputing, just interested. I've just done mine in 2.5 sq mm, but it's only very short as all pipes pass the new box, so can be redone if necessary. Just like to know WHY I'm doing it?

Oh, and should we bond GAS pipes?

Alcazar

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