Lighting parts of my home that have no mains supply

janiejones00 · Jan 31, 2015

Dear All,

I was hoping to get some advice on how to get power to parts of my house, I've been given innumerable conflicting ideas from various people but thought I should seek out professional help.

I live in Paris, in an appartment within a larger building. Our appartment has an electrical supply but the rest of the building was squatted so the owners basically went through and ripped out lots of cables so the origanal system is well and truely B******d, although the guy who installed our wi fi box managed to wire it in to a random cable, I wasn't in when he did this so I'm not sure how.

SO in the unlit part of the building we have several very large rooms which we hope to use for parties, workshops and artist studios but have no power supply. I origannlly thought about rigging up a sound system for parties using car batteries, but was advised against this. We also considered using a genarator but the ventilation is very poor and I don't really fancy poisoning my friends.
I'm guessing the simplest thing would be to put in an extension cord, but I don't know how to do this without blowing out the entire system (some plugs in the appartment get stressed out even with a multiplug put in them), so what would I need to do to to increase it's power?

All ideas appreciated-also doing this on a pretty tight budget by the way

Thanks

ImpededLoop · Jan 31, 2015

I'm afraid there's only one way to do it and that's to decide what you want and get prices from several electrical contractors.

Tidy Max · Jan 31, 2015

janiejones00 said:
Dear All,

I was hoping to get some advice on how to get power to parts of my house, I've been given innumerable conflicting ideas from various people but thought I should seek out professional help.

I live in Paris, in an appartment within a larger building. Our appartment has an electrical supply but the rest of the building was squatted so the owners basically went through and ripped out lots of cables so the origanal system is well and truely B******d, although the guy who installed our wi fi box managed to wire it in to a random cable, I wasn't in when he did this so I'm not sure how.

SO in the unlit part of the building we have several very large rooms which we hope to use for parties, workshops and artist studios but have no power supply. I origannlly thought about rigging up a sound system for parties using car batteries, but was advised against this. We also considered using a genarator but the ventilation is very poor and I don't really fancy poisoning my friends.
I'm guessing the simplest thing would be to put in an extension cord, but I don't know how to do this without blowing out the entire system (some plugs in the appartment get stressed out even with a multiplug put in them), so what would I need to do to to increase it's power?

All ideas appreciated-also doing this on a pretty tight budget by the way

Thanks

There have been a few disagreements on here before about the general standard of our French friends electrical installation methods.

From my experience they tend to be a bit of a lash up and from what you have described this also appears to be the case in your building! Unfortunately i very much doubt you will get the advice in which you are after on this forum as what you are trying to do is impossible to do safely without using an electrician.

Get a decent electrician in and the best of luck with the parties and art studios, sounds like a pretty cool place to live!

marc8 · Jan 31, 2015

Hi friend of mine had a place in France & they used a lot of conduit installed wiring u could see if the conduits are still there, also he was getting his paperwork for in France if you don't have it they won't connect your supply, worth seeking local advice

amlu · Jan 31, 2015

got to find out where the main electrical intake is (meters, distribution board etc), assess how much additional load it can carry, and start from there.
you may consider using temporary distribution gear used for stage power and events (something like that
Rubber Box Co Ltd - 32A Supply)
if the place is not yours and the landlord does not want to pay for fixed wiring you can always take all the kit with you when moving out or sell it when not needed anymore.

Marvo · Jan 31, 2015

From what you say there is sufficient power in the building, it's just the distribution and final circuits that have been removed. I like Amulu's idea in the post above but you'd still need a qualified electrician to connect it up safely.

Geordie Spark · Jan 31, 2015

This should give you all you need and you'll be able to take it with you wherever you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sbWt4uPbqQ

PEG · Jan 31, 2015

Bonjour,i find it hard to believe you are strapped for dosh,if you are living in Paris. I have spent some time in the Lebanese Embassy,which is in the mary-middle (not something one would make-up:icon12

and the cost of renting/owning,was very,very hard to accept.

Rather than contacting local companies,i would try to investigate the ex-pats forums,get a little "heads-up",and maybe even some phone numbers.

You will need to know and understand their rules,even if you choose not to play by them!

Cos' if we didn't have rules...where would we be?....hang-on,that Al Murray reference don't pan out...you're already there!

amlu · Jan 31, 2015

have a look on eurostar prices, some members of the forum may be up for giving advice and a weekend abroad ;-)

Engineer54 · Feb 1, 2015

As far as i can make out your rented apartment has a power supply, but it seems you want to use some of these empty rooms that you're not presently renting?? Well if that's the case your out of luck, the owners have made sure of that. Anything that you do to provide power to these rooms will be unlawful and you could find yourself out on your ear, and maybe even a prosecution to boot!!

If you want to use these empty rooms, then talk to the owner and come to some arrangement as far as use and provision of power/lighting etc....

janiejones00 · Feb 2, 2015

amlu said:
got to find out where the main electrical intake is (meters, distribution board etc), assess how much additional load it can carry, and start from there.
you may consider using temporary distribution gear used for stage power and events (something like that
Rubber Box Co Ltd - 32A Supply)
if the place is not yours and the landlord does not want to pay for fixed wiring you can always take all the kit with you when moving out or sell it when not needed anymore.

great thanks, will have a good look at this, seems like the most feasible thing

DPG · Feb 2, 2015

Have I got this right - you want to use the other apartments/rooms in addition to the apartment you inhabit yourselves? Is the landlord OK with this? Daz