MCBs in France?

[SAB-Electrical]

I'm going to do a job in France soon and I have a few questions, the main one being; are the MCBs the same as British ones?

All help will be much appriciated.

 

[malcolmsanford]

am over here on holiday atm have spoke to an english spark who's been working over here for the last ten years or so, mcbs are double pole and for items such as cooker fridge freezer washing machines etc they have type "ac" which from what i can gather is an rcbo.
hope this helps.

am over here on holiday atm have spoke to an english spark who's been working over here for the last ten years or so, mcbs are double pole and for items such as cooker fridge freezer washing machines etc they have type "ac" which from what i can gather is an rcbo.
hope this helps.

As we are dealing with French are you having Deja Vous cagedanimal. You guys must have both met that English spark, can't be too many of them over there.

 

[lloyd1980]

my parents bought and renovated a farmhouse in france (where they now live)
I (being a bit of an electrical geek) decided to whip the cover off the dis board to see 'how they did it' ?
I was very impressed.
They dont use ring mains, its radials for everything , 2 sockets on balcony = radial etc
makes for a lot of ways but less disruption if there is a problem on particular radial.
the wiring colours are
red - live
blue - neutral
green yellow - earth
(unsure about 3 phase as only single phase supply)
The EDF energy cut out was digital too - (no was not the meter, def the cut out fuse) and this had a digital display on it.
it was very modern and high tech in comparison to what I find domesticaly on a day to day basis.

Am not a fan of the french in general tbh.......but their new electrical installations are very good

Lloyd

 

[SirKit Breaker]

From what i have heard, we are still the only country installing ring final circuits. I always fit radials when i can though.
But thanks for some interesting posts, its to see how others do it.

Cheers........Howard

 

[telectrix]

i nthink we're the only country using harmonised cable colurs as well, see lloyd's post. harmonization. it's a joke.

 

[mayfair]

We do as well

i nthink we're the only country using harmonised cable colurs as well, see lloyd's post. harmonization. it's a joke.

 

[madrid]

Nothing wrong with a good old lighting joint box(spiders web)was brought up doing them in scotland.We are about the only country where ring circuits are the norm.radials would be much less hassle but we would need bigger boards.Don't know about france but when I lived in spain you got a reduced tariff if you opted for a reduced maximum load.So you would have a 4 bed house with a 25 amp main switch breaker that would trip if you used the washing machine and tumble dryer at the same time .total pain in the ****

 

[bugsy]

Done quite a bit in France , mostly Legrand all DP mcb fronted by RCD . Weve done a bit in Geneva as well again Legrand DP / RCD , All conduit pre loaded, all the kit available from their sheds

 

[lloyd1980]

I hate ring mains - total pain in the backside , especially old ones that end up being a ring in a ring in a ring :-s
I priced up 4mm in comparison to 2.5 as was working out would it be possible to wire in 4mm radials for the same material cost as 2.5
sadly it was more expensive :-(
could wire lots of radials but then its a bigger board more MCB's or RCBO's

again......I hate ring mains