Household Wiring

[SENCO]

Hello - am new to this forum so not sure how it all works - but here goes!

I have wired sockets with live on the right - looking at the socket or at the back of a plug, - since none of the termimnals of the sockets i bought (Legrand) were marked which was live and which was neutral.. however I bought a socket the other week and it had "L" marked  on the left (looking at the socket in position) - have I wired mine the wrong way?

The double (legrand) sockets seem to be set so that no matter how you wired them one socket would have "P andN reversed" - this means that if you had a switched appliance plugged in then it could be that the return was switched - rather than the live. Is this ok in France?

I have more questions to ask but as i am new to this i had better ask them one at a time:)

Thanks in advance

 

[Ford Anglia]

Since French wiring is protected by double pole circuit breakers, or a fuse on the live and a barette on the neutral, it doesn't REALLY matter which way round they are wired.

"Normal" practice is to wire with live to the right, as you look at it, ie: the socket on the wall, the circuit breaker etc. Do NOT EVER assume that this has been done, though, unless you know for certain.

I've not seen ANY French sockets which indicate which pin would be live, but then, I mainly use Legrand stuff. Their doubles aren't hard wired anyway, it's up to you to link them.

[Nick Trollope]

Legrand Neptune doubles are hard-wired and crossed over (L-N). The pre-wired Mosaics, etc aren't....

Upshot, it really doesn't matter - I always use the UK live to right (as you look into the socket), too.

Appliance switching isn't an issue as; a) you wouldn't remove the cover with the thing plugged in anyway... b) most on/off switches (on computers and the like) don't actually switch the mains, so see a), and c) as Sweet FA has said modern installations switch both sides of the supply at the "consumer unit". MODERN, please note. Old ones don't (they usually just fuse the live) even older ones don't even do that....

 

[P]

And some 'modern' installations are not always wired correctly - i.e. only one pole through the fuse / circuit breaker and the other via a busbar - little job for me on our next visit to sort this out. Also, from my experience, because there is a two pole and earth socket there it does not necessarily mean that there is an earth wire!

Paul

[SENCO]

Thanks for your help:)

[SENCO]

Thanks for your reply :) Gordon

[SENCO]

Thanks for your reply:) Gordon