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The relevant French standard does require type E sockets though, so type F doesn‘t conform.

As I mentioned, I spend most of my time in Austria. 1.5 mm2 singles in conduit, by far the most common installation method, user to be limited to 12 A before the modern B/C curve MCBs were introduced, as the old L and U curves had much poorer overload protection. With modern MCBs you could go up...

Most plugs are considered double insulated, or so I‘ve been told. Some are only suitable for supplying power to double-insulated appliances while others may also supply earthed appliances. And yes, there are several non-polarised earthed plugs in the world. Belgian ones are used in a number of...

If the electrics have been installed in a sensible manner, you can plug in a heater in every room without tripping anything, probably even with just one 16 A radial per two bedrooms. I‘ve managed to trip a B13 with two heaters but that’s only 3 kW, 16 A is 3680 W and 20 A is 4600 W.

Testing is the only way. Not a real DIY job as it involves opening the CU and testing between the earth bar and the wire at the FCU.

Seems so to me. Adaptor £1.59, three plugs £2.65.

Let‘s assume the typical UK home has one upstairs socket ring. That‘s three heaters on a B32/2.5 mm2. Splitting that very same ring into two 20 A radials gives you four heaters with slightly less cable. A 2 BR would work with just one 20 A radial.

Same category as an electric fire I‘d say. All the portable electric heaters I‘ve seen are below 10 A, so you could run two of them on a 20 A radial. In reality you might even be able to run three, both because many electric heaters are on thermostats and won‘t be on all the time and because a...

Exactly, if that. The only big loads outside the kitchen are electric fires and hair dryers. Even in the kitchen only hobs and ovens are likely to exceed 10 A. Kettles sometimes do but are only on for a minute or so per brew. I can say from experience (living in Austria for a very long time)...

True, once one RCD trips the other one should no longer see an imbalance. In my experience it’s still extremely likely that both RCDs trip in this scenario though.

You‘re quite right, if two RCDs are connected in series, it‘s impossible to predict which one will trip. However, in this case the RCDs are in parallel, presumably with the live of one circuit connected to RCD 1 and the neutral to RCD 2. In that case both RCDs should trip. The only likely...

Indeed. Both RCDs see an imbalanced current flow, one on the live, the other on the neutral. Unless, as Martygturner suggested, the neutral somehow ended up on the non-RCD neutral bar.

I seem to remember that in OP‘s case only one RCD tripped.

The fact that the hoover works in the kitchen but trips the RCD (and only one RCD) when plugged into a socket on the downstairs radial very much suggests that a circuit on this RCD has a neutral-earth fault. If the neutral of that circuit was connected to the wrong bar I'm convinced both RCDs...

As far as I know you need the appropriate enclosure for the connections to be considered maintenance-free.

I‘d think neutral fault somewhere on the affected RCD. Neutral on the wrong bar would trip both RCDs. A faulty hoover seems unlikely as they‘re pretty much all double insulated.

What‘s the point of the FCU anyway if the whole circuit is protected by a B16?

The instructions clearly say solid conductors (class 1) only, so you‘re absolutely correct.

Industrial production, mostly robotised, has gotten so cheap that paying an actual person to repair something is shockingly often more expensive than buying a new item. In the past I was quoted a 45 Euro inspection fee (30 minutes of labour) for a Bosch SDS drill that cost 70 Euros new. At that...

OP writes about a solar battery, which suggests an off-grid inverter to me. It might not have anything connected to the earth terminal (IT supply) or it could create its own TN-S system (Victron inverters do).