Hot tubs are fast becoming increasingly popular for owners of French homes. Whether it be an inflatable or portable system for 2-4 people or something that is permanent for up to 8 people with music and lighting systems integrated.
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Many customers who have them say they would not be without it.  Have to say, if I were to choose between a swimming pool or a hot tub, it would be a hot tub for me! 

The inflatable hot tubs can be plugged into normal socket [depending on power rating], again must have RCD protection.
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Over the last 18months I have been called upon to help with the installation of both inflatable and permanent hot tubs, and will be only too pleased to assist if this relaxing feature is something you want for your home - paul@paulwilkinselectricien.com

Much of my work is rewires and renovations for domestic properties in rural France, and appreciate it when I get an opportunity to do electrical work at non-domestic premises, especially a milking parlour.

Very recently I was asked to take a look at connecting a 3 phase milking machine for local enterprise, Noah's Ark Farm based in Bouin. I made a visit before commencing works to see a huge carefully dis-assembled milking machine with its wiring loom completely intact. More than happy to undertake the work so returned the following week to find the machine re-assembled and mounted ready for re-connecting the wiring loom.

​The fuseboard, fed with 5 core cable [3phase] had to be moved to a safer location as goats, apparently, can be a bit disruptive. I also installed a 3 phase cut off switch that was within easy reach for extra safety measures. In a short space of time an impressive ramp and trough system had been built ready to milk many goats at once.

On completion, the system was tested to make sure that the motors worked in conjunction with the pump and suction hoses [apologies for the terminology, electrics and farming are two very different things]. We made sure the safety cut off worked, voila and the system was ready for the lady goats in no time.
Wishing Noah's Ark Farm all the very best with their increased milking facility.

For more information visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NoahsArkFarmBouin/
They produce a variety of quality farm reared free range meats and eggs all year round. Plus they are taking turkey orders for Christmas already!  

It is quite common in older French property to find that the electrical system is supplied in 3 phase, as opposed to single phase.  

When called to quote on electrical work on french properties by new proprietors, I am often asked what is the difference and what does it mean? And more often than not, there are numerous common problems such as when the kettle is switched on the power cuts off or when the hoover is used the power trips. This is because small electrical items can draw a large amount of current. E.g. A kettle can draw around 8amps for the period that it is boiling.

A 3 phase system can work well if you have and use a small amount of electrical appliances or a large incoming supply. With single phase these problems are less likely.  3 phase is a balance of loads. 

For example, using an incoming supply of 60amps [60A], the supply is split into 3 x 20A. Old houses in France usually have outbuildings so having 3 phase means that the supply might be split as follows: 20A for the house, 20A for the barn and 20A for the workshop. Bearing in mind that many years ago there would have been less use of electrical items such as kettles, hoovers, radios, tumble dryers, washing machines. Therefore, very little tripping of power in the kitchen. If you have purchased a property today with 3 phase and plug in all of your appliances – you are very quickly going to over draw on the 20A. E.g. a washing machine may draw 10amps, your freezer may draw 4-6 amps, then when you put the kettle on, another 8amps could be drawn and click you exceed the 20A and the power trips out. With single phase you have 60A feeding the house, you have one large supply coming directly to your dwelling. So your appliances can be switched on with no problem of overload.

I have recently worked on a property which had to be reverted back to 3 phase purely because there was not enough power to the house. I.e. it needed 90Amps minimum which could not be provided by single phase. Therefore I have had to very carefully balance all 3 phases at 30A.
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No phase can be exceeded, so a qualified electrician has to carefully balance the phases so that should all items be working at one time the current drawn will not overload any of the phases.   

I had been asked to carry out some work to replace ceiling and wall lighting in a lounge as the customer wanted to update the light fittings. 

On commencement of works I had noticed that there were 2 fuseboards.   While 2 fuseboards are not a rarity, as you would have them supplying different areas i.e. main house and outbuildings [all separate dwellings, independent of main house must have their own fuseboard].  On this occasion it was most unusual as the fuseboards were placed next door to each other and was to purely allow for increased usage in the house. In this instance, the better option would have been to increase the size of the fuseboard and have everything on one board.  

The old fuseboard was not RCD protected and the new fuseboard had been fitted with RCD protection. My findings had identified that the circuits had not been protected by the main RCD on the new board and had in fact been wired incorrectly.  The incorrect wiring meant that the mcbs [miniature circuit breakers] would not trip in the event of a fault on the circuit. I advised client that this would have to be rectified.  While the work was carried out by a 'qualified' electrician, I was very surprised to see this kind of incompetence.

So before I began changing the light fittings, I installed an RCD and rectified the incorrect wiring on the old fuseboard.  I then correctly rewired the newer fuseboard so that the mcbs were protecting the circuits.

With the boards now wired correctly the RCDs began picking up the earth faults and were tripping respectively. This was traced back to a faulty old double socket which was disconnected.

If I could advise anyone it would be:

• Please make sure that your work is carried out by a qualified, competent electrician. 

• Make sure to check the siret number. This can be done online and will show you exactly what the person is qualified to do.

• If you cannot check the siret, ask for the carte professionnelle. This has all the  information on the back of the card including work qualified to carry out.
  

It is not uncommon to find that you have 3 phase electrical supply in a French property, particularly in farms or buildings with industrial use, where you will need high current.  Most new installations [new builds and rewires] are now supplied in single phase. 

3 phase means that you have 3 live terminals and 1 neutral at the metre supplied by EDF and the fuseboard is a lot bigger. The supply comes in normally at a higher kVA i.e.  15kVA. This actually means that there are 3 lots of 5kVA [25A] on each phase and the current drawn must be balanced on each phase as overloading on one phase will potentially cause nuisance tripping.  

An electric cooker/hob, for example, draws a high current and is available for either 3 phase or single phase.  If your home is 3 phase then your cooker/hob needs to be installed as 3 phase.  Bearing in mind that a cooker/hob is 32A, the installation of the cooker/hob means that the current drawn will need to be balanced across all phases.

Unlike 3 phase, where there is a need to balance the load, with a single phase supply circuits can be freely assigned, ideally by a qualified electrician.  Please bear in mind that you need the right kVA for the size of your dwelling. The most common are:  6kVA,  9kVA,  12kVA and 15kVA and can only be determined and set by EDF.  The unit price of your electricity is affected by the amount of kVA. 

For example when we moved into our rented property it was set at 12kVA and not taking advantage of tariff bleu creuse for the hot water tank.  There are 2 of us at the dwelling with a 200litre water tank, we have very few high drawing appliances  and no electric heating. We asked EDF to reduce the kVA to 6 and apply tariff bleu creuse to heat the hot water tank over night.  Our trimester bills are extremely manageable.

To demonstrate an example of cost differences across kVA, the image below was sourced from www.frenchproperty.com and shows the annual standing charges, base rate and night tariffs of each kVA. Figures shown are as of July 2012. 

This does not necessarily mean that this will apply to all customers, as is dependent on the size of your house, your electricity tariff [of which there are many], your appliances, size of water tank, if you have electric heating and the general state of your electrical installation. 

We hope this provides some clarity about 3 and single phase and if you have any questions, you know where we are. 

Over the last 24 hours there have been reports of Orange alert over France and Paris in particular.  Many parts of France, our region included Dept 79, experienced fantastic temperatures on Sunday afternoon with glorious sunshine and blue skies. We have craved them for weeks.  In a short time span storms have brewed. 

Thunderstorms are indeed fascinating but at the same time best never to forget how unpredictable storms can be  and the havoc that can be caused  in a very short space of time.  Making sure your home is safe and being prepared at a moment's notice can help ensure that your home does not  suffer greatly when at the mercy of Mother Nature's elements.

Keep in a safe place torches, candles and matches where they can be easily located in the event of a power cut.

Switch off TVs, computers, telephones.  Unfortunately, 2 years ago, a homeowner in Les Alleuds had a lightning strike on their telephone pole and the surge travelled through their line and through their computer. At that time appliances had no surge protection.  IF your electrical installation is properly earthed, a surge protected extension lead will ensure that only the fuse in the extension lead is blown, averting a surge to your equipment and damaging your PC, telephone or other appliance connected to your extension lead.

Are all water sources with metal pipes adequately protected with earth bonding?  Lightning  can flow through pipes. If you have your hand on a tap at the time of a lightning strike hitting your property and your pipes are not appropriately bonding, you will receive the strike too.

All electrical and metallic equipment should have an earth connection.  This connection should be wired back to the fuse board  which travels down the main earth cable to the earth rod and down to the ground. The earth rod is a metal stake which is either 1m or 1.5m and completely buried in the ground. 

Check where your electrical supplies are and that they can be turned off if need be.

If you have any concerns about your earthing, please do not hesitate to seek the advice of a qualified electrician to carry out a simple earth resistance test.

A recent discussion with friends and family highlighted that some home owners are not making the most of  night rates to heat their water tank.  In fact their water tanks are using electricity in the day time at peak rate, which is quite expensive.

In our rental home, we have a day/night timer which means that our hot water tank is being heated up overnight during the hours of 10.30pm and 6.30am, taking advantage of tariff bleu night rate with Seolis, which makes the cost of heating the tank financially viable.  We have hot water available throughout the day without the worry of heating it throughout the day.

You might want to check your electricity bill to see if a cheaper night rate is applied. If not, please do enquire with your service provider.  If you are taking advantage of a cheaper night rate, is your water tank taking advantage too?  You will need a contacteur jour/nuit or day/night switch and this is located at the fuseboard. The diagram below will help you determine if you have this. 

The idea of the contacteur jour/nuit  is that when set to auto it will activate during your cheaper night rate, usually 10.30pm to 6.30am.

If you have not got this switch, you might like to give us a call and start saving a few euros on your electricity bill!