Hi,
My aunt has a small cottage in a tiny village in France. When she bought it one of the rooms was a bit ramshackle and sticking out of the floor a couple of inches from the wall is a pipe with some live cables that used to have a socket for a washing machine in it.
I am going down there in a few weeks and said I would be happy to buy a socket, screw it to the wall and wire up the circuit to it. So here it goes...
1. Any gotchas I should consider?
2. I also want to continue the radial circuit to add two sockets on the other side of the room (opposite wall). How best is it to do this? I assume I can just go straight up in conduit, follow the wall at ceiling level and drop back down right? Is that normal or should I be trying to go in the loft (not sure if it is accessible)
3. I have also been asked to move the light switch for the same room from the current location in the hall to the actual room (about 3 feet). Can I just replace the switch with a junction box and run the cable horizontal through the adjoining wall and back into a new switch?
4. Since this is old wiring, can you still buy and is it recommended for me to get the old style switch with a built in fuse (I understand new switches don't have fuses built in now)?
5. Lastly - when should I use trunking, all the time? Is it similar to the round stuff used in the UK?
FYI - I know they use radial not ring, I know that I should use the stranded cable not the Uk stuff. The only thing that worries me is a note I saw that rural properties often had 3 phase...
Graham
My aunt has a small cottage in a tiny village in France. When she bought it one of the rooms was a bit ramshackle and sticking out of the floor a couple of inches from the wall is a pipe with some live cables that used to have a socket for a washing machine in it.
I am going down there in a few weeks and said I would be happy to buy a socket, screw it to the wall and wire up the circuit to it. So here it goes...
1. Any gotchas I should consider?
2. I also want to continue the radial circuit to add two sockets on the other side of the room (opposite wall). How best is it to do this? I assume I can just go straight up in conduit, follow the wall at ceiling level and drop back down right? Is that normal or should I be trying to go in the loft (not sure if it is accessible)
3. I have also been asked to move the light switch for the same room from the current location in the hall to the actual room (about 3 feet). Can I just replace the switch with a junction box and run the cable horizontal through the adjoining wall and back into a new switch?
4. Since this is old wiring, can you still buy and is it recommended for me to get the old style switch with a built in fuse (I understand new switches don't have fuses built in now)?
5. Lastly - when should I use trunking, all the time? Is it similar to the round stuff used in the UK?
FYI - I know they use radial not ring, I know that I should use the stranded cable not the Uk stuff. The only thing that worries me is a note I saw that rural properties often had 3 phase...
Graham
