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Has there been a power cut or have we tripped out our electric


Fourbarewalls

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So with washing machine on, microwave on and the oven, and kettle we seem to have tripped out all our electric.

There is no visable fuses that have tripped but nothing registring on our system.

Do we need to get this reset with EDF, is there a button that resets the system, any helpful advice before we go chasing an electrician to help.

Im on the phone now waiting for assistance through EDF so hopefully it will all become apparant very soon
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[quote user="Fourbarewalls"]So with washing machine on, microwave on and the oven, and kettle we seem to have tripped out all our electric. [/quote]

There should be two buttons on your electric compteur - control panel? - one red and the other black. Our panel is in the garage. In the event of having tripped out the electric I just push in the red button and all springs bcak into life. Mind you it is a good idea to switch off or disconnect one of the offending appliances or else you will have a repeat performance.

We have 9 Kw - shown by having the no 45 showing in a small window near to the big buttons. If you have 30 showing then you a have 6Kw supply.

Sue

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It seems that you have overloaded your system (too many electrical items on at once). If this is not the problem, do call your electricity supplier.

If this is the case, it should be easy to reset.

Go to your main board and look for a big black or grey toggle switch which should be set down to 0. flick it up to 1 and Bob's should be your uncle [:)].

If this is the problem, you have two solutions:

  1. either do not use too many high-consuming electrical items at the same time (washing-machine + oven + microwave + kettle = blackout)
  2. or talk to your electricity supplier (09 69 32 15 15 for EDF) to increase the kVA at your end. This will mean a higher standing charge and higher cost per unit, but should resolve the blackout problem. (see below for EDF current tariff)

For option 2, you need to check on the back of your electricity bill to see what kW you are currently set at. In an EDF bill, it is shown at the back, under the usage listing, with the heading "Caractéristiques de votre tarif".

I have 6 kVA in the house and in the gite next door I have not had any overload in either property.

Current EDF tariff for basic supply first then for low-rate hours option below:

[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/EDFbase.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/EDFHC.jpg[/IMG]

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Fbw (Lee?), we have only 6kw and probably enough electrical stuff to start a shop but have managed not to overload since 2003. Just remember it's not like England where you have enough kw to run everything at once, you have to work out what can go on together.

I guess that you don't have "off-peak" in which case the main culprit may be an electric hot water heater (big power sucker) being on for much of the day as you wash up, hose down the children etc. You didn't mention this as being on at off time so I'm probably wrong.

John

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A little bit of panic, but after a quick call with the EDF the lady pointed us in the right direction, found the button and felt a little bit stupid when the electric came back on, now we are going to get the AMP raised to 45 from the 30 AMP that the electrician left it at.

Now we can go out and enjoy the french sunshine and lakes for the day
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Washing machine 1.8-2 KW

Microwave .75kw

Oven 2.2 KW

Kettle 3KW

If you have a basic 6kw supply then you have tripped the disjoncteur d'abonnement, mine will is on the point of tripping at just under that load and buzzes alarmingly so I fitted a timer to delay the start of mywashing machine until the storage heaters had charged.

The easiest remedy is to buy a smaller less puissant kettle as that is the most gourmand, or boil the water in the microwave although in this instance you had something else in it.

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Hi

Glad to hear you are back on.

Have found can use most things together until flicking on the kettle which immediately switches everything off.  It is most definitely the kettle.  Difficult to remember I know as you get everything working and think now I'll have a nice cuppa and bang|

WendyG

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[quote user="WendyG"]

Hi

Glad to hear you are back on.

Have found can use most things together until flicking on the kettle which immediately switches everything off.  It is most definitely the kettle.  Difficult to remember I know as you get everything working and think now I'll have a nice cuppa and bang|

WendyG

[/quote]

We solved this by using a stove top kettle. Simples

(also handy when the power does cut out for real reasons)

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A further point here; you don't say where you are, in the town or in the country. We're on the edge of a village and the village electricity supply arrives via overhead cabling and is susceptible to surges during storms; this can cause our the main switch to trip off sometimes (not always). It is a real problem if you are away as there is no way of knowing if it has happened, and of course the freezer contents can be ruined. I've talked to many people about this including our electricity supplier; the only solution appears to be to ask a friendly neighbour to keep an eye on it for you. High tech, eh? If we're away we now leave a hall table lamp on (low energy bulb!!) and they can see from the road whether the electricity is still on.

I found this device  http://www.d-home-otik.com/reenclencheur-edf-c-70.html but at 600€ for my type of switch it's a bit too expensive! It shows that it must be a common problem though or else there wouldn't be such a solution.

Sid

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