Rewiring a property in the south of France.

Hi all,

I'm an NICEIC domestic installer and I've been asked by one of my customers to consider going over to the south of France to rewire their holiday home. I aware they must have some sort of wiring regulations and their version of Part P for signing work off but does anyone have any knowledge or information please?





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It is quite a bit different from here. All MCBs are double pole, they have strange sockets on radials, no ring mains. Twin and earth not allowed, all wiring is in singles in a form of conduit called gaine. All new rewires have to include RJ45 sockets in all rooms wired back to a central point, maybe TV sockets as well.
No looping in at ceiling roses. Instead a joint box is used in each room where the light, feed and switch wires all meet. The live wire is any colour except blue or green/yellow but usually red (not brown), neutral blue, earth green/yellow. Switched wires are orange or mauve or one of each on two way systems. Intermediate switches are rare, instead a push button and latching relay system are used called a telerupteur.
There is no equivalent to part P but the work has to be passed and you won't be connected if all is not right.

Worth getting a copy of "Electricity in Your French house" by Thomas Malcolm available on Amazon.

Also worth while wading through some of this:

http://www.frenchentree.com/france-...ters/french-electrical-other-building-issues/

Thank you very much for all that info. You seem to be a bit of an expert on the subject! Have you undertaken much electrical work in France?












http://www.REMOVED

None at all. Just had a nosy interest on electrics and plumbing on various visits.

Having been involved with my parents house rewire in Normandy the original reply is fairly spot on. I went over removed the old wiring which had a nice new edf supply meter on what we considered a death trap of electrics in the house..... Put in a new consumer unit and wired up a temp supply using Rat proof 3 core - it is available over there. Then wired up the proper supply as described in reply - making sure all junction boxes were accessible. They have a lower amp supply allowed to most domestic properties. no electric showers allowed in France....
My parents then managed to get a local spark to inspect verify the installation and sign it off ( knowing our laws didn't think they would be able too and explained that at the start of the 7 year effort....)

Although a commercial publication this gives good information about the French system. ( starts on on page 22 )

http://www.legrand.com/files/fck/File/pdf/Guide-International.pdf

Before starting it would be very sensible to get a copy of the official French regulatory authority's publication and work from that.

UTE
[email protected]
http://www.ute-fr.com
Helpful practical guides are available from:
Promotelec
http://www.promotelec.com

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Not complying 100% could be very expensive if the local authorities are not happy with French houses being owned by "foreigners". They will take every opportunity to make life difficult for foreigners.

Some French towns welcome English people into their community.

Please take care if following the initial reply as it contains numerous inaccuracies.

The current French regs are NFC 15-100 from 2002: do a search on this site and there was a link to a translation some years back.

If this is a re-wire and the property currently has a power-supply, you do not require any type of inspection nor carry out any notification: you can give your customer whatever you would in the UK. Strangely, for a country known for its bureaucracy, building and related trades are almost all self-certifying. There is nothing except self-preservation and action from the insurance company if it goes up in flames, that stops any person in France re-wiring their home.

The regs themself are comprehensive but not unreasonable: you could, if you wished, fit the house with British sockets as the regs do not specify that "French" sockets are used, only that sockets must incorporate an earth and a "shield" ( i.e. are child-safe ).

You can use T+E if you wish, but practice is single-core as T+E would fill the conduit used.

RJ45 needed in every "habitable" room i.e. not WC, laundry-room, although the kitchen is a "habitable" room.

I would be careful about taking anything from Promotelec at face-value as it is a marketing body set up by the electrical equipment producers and aims to increase the size of the installation " for your increased comfort ". For example, I remember one leaflet from them that recommended a maximum of 5 plugs per circuit whereas the legal maximum is 8 (with 2.5 mm2 ).

Good luck.

Thanks for you corrections to my post which was based on personal observation and reading the link provided rather than hands on work.
I'm surprised UK sockets would be allowed. To do so however would, I assume, make reselling difficult, though I suppose a compromise would be a mixture of UK and French bearing in mind the total number of sockets per circuit.
Re twin and earth, is the bare earth wire really acceptable even in gaine?

Hi

It is not too unusual for Brits mix the sockets ( especially in holiday areas where there may be letting ). I first saw this in a friend's house, asked about it and was told that the house had been checked over by the Consuel ( certifying authority ) and there was no problem. When I checked the regs, I saw that on the basis of having an earth and shielding, they fully complied.

It wouldn't be too much work to change afterwards and, anyway, Brits tend to sell to Brits so it would resolve itself.

Perhaps a mis-understanding on my part here ( not an electrician ) . I believed T+E to mean all three cables over-moulded which would be acceptable, and the earth could be bare, however the standard practice - at least in my corner of Rhone-Alps that I see - is to used single -core. Latest thing is that the flexible conduit is sold pre-threaded with L/N/E.

The standard flexible conduit is 20 mm and would be filled with one over-mouded three-core 2.5 mm2 cable, indeed if I remember correctly it can only be used for a maximum of 5 single-core 2.5 mm2 ( to limit potential over-heating ).

AIUI BICBW British type T&E is not acceptable, even in conduit, because the earth isn't identified by colour, but British type flex or any cable with a continuously coloured earth would be acceptable.

Also I don't think the French used reduced size cpc.