regs in france

[redface]

i have been asked to go to france a rewire a customers 2nd house after doing his private house
i have no clue what there regs are i know its easyer than our electrics but can i use our regs over there if we are safer ?
i dont know what to do it would be nice to go.

 

[topquark]

Some things, like ring circuits are NOT acceptable in France. If there is currently no supply to the place their DNO will refuse to connect it unless it's been done by an approved contractor, so tread carefully.

 

[millwall ken]

I wasn't aware that there was any such thing as rules and regulations in France.

 

[morph]

you can wire up but need an electrical officer ( sort of council tester) to do the testing and sign it off

 

[Victor]

No you cannot use UK regs here in France.

France has its own regs and a hell of a lot of them, these differ in many ways from those of the UK.

Anyone can wire a house here as long as it is their own house, if you are doing it for someone else and are being paid then you have to;

1) Be registered and have a siret number
2) Have both Responsibility civile (Third party liab ins) and Decennal Assurance (10 year guarantee ins)

If there is no current supply to the property, then it is possible to get EDF to connect a temp supply but this will only be allowed for 1 year before a permanent supply is required and for this to be done, a consuel certificate will need to be obtained. This involves forms to be filled out and an inspection by the consuel inspector, so you will need to speak French.

Also do NOT think that you will be able to come over and rewire a three bed house in a week, unlike the UK, ring mains are illegal as is twin and earth cables, most cabelling is singles run in gaine (plastic conduit) which all has be pulled through although you can buy prefilled but it becomes a lot more expensive. You are only allowed 8 sockets or 8 lights on one circuit, washing machines/dishwashers/freezers all have to have their own circuits and many properties are 3 phase, so a lot of balancing of loads across the phases is necessary.

If you need anymore info or I can help you out in any way please feel free to drop me a line.

Hope this helps

 

[Deleted member 26818]

About all I know about the Regulations in France, is that T&E is not allowed, they have a similar flat cable, but the earth is sheathed as well as the line and neutral.
In some areas, they don't have a neutral, you have to use the earth.

 

[Des 56]

Interesting question, French regulations. of which i know nothing by the way

One thought does come to mind

Here in the Uk we are committed by Eropean law(as far as I am aware) to work to Bs 7671 or another European standard that is acceptable

I would think that France, having he same commitments to EU law would have to permit the British standard

 

[Victor]

France has its own regs which are called Norme NF C 15-100 and the French do not permit any other standards only their own.

French norms differ from the UK standards in many ways, so even though there is supposed to be a united european standard, there is NOT with a capital N.

I have seen houses wired here to UK standards, however when a property is sold here it is now subject to an electrical inspection and if it does not conform to la norme NF C 15-100 it will fail, this does not mean that the property cannot be sold but it gives the purchaser grounds to drive the price down to put right anything that is wrong, and if its wired to UK standards and not French, it could me a total rewire.

The best example being, as I said earlier, twin and earth is illegal as the earth is not insulated.

 

[accordfire]

Interesting question, French regulations. of which i know nothing by the way

One thought does come to mind

Here in the Uk we are committed by Eropean law(as far as I am aware) to work to Bs 7671 or another European standard that is acceptable

I would think that France, having he same commitments to EU law would have to permit the British standard

We're not committed by European law. We subscribe to the CENELEC scheme, which serves as a VOLUNTARY means of harmonising electro technical standards. The French also do, as we do, in part.

CENELEC, however, allows for regional (national) variation, and the basis of harmonisation is always on current regulatory standard in place in a given nation already. The French, therefore, effectively do as we do, and harmonise certain aspects of their electrotech but not others. In the UK, as regards CENELEC, all we've really adopted is colour coding - the French already had this in place along with most of the rest of Europe.

Each country still has its own primary electrical standard - in our case, BS7671, in the French case, NF C 15-100, German DIN VDE 0100, Spanish Codigo Electrico Nacional, and so on.

 

[Victor]

About all I know about the Regulations in France, is that T&E is not allowed, they have a similar flat cable, but the earth is sheathed as well as the line and neutral.
In some areas, they don't have a neutral, you have to use the earth.

Sorry to say but you are wrong. Earth is never used as a neutral, EDF supply a Phase (Line) and neutral, but no earth which is why all properties are on a TT system.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Sorry to say but you are wrong. Earth is never used as a neutral, EDF supply a Phase (Line) and neutral, but no earth which is why all properties are on a TT system.

Installed a machine at a remote location in France many years ago.
The supply was 3 phase, no neutral and no earth. Earth was as you say, TT.

 

[RWJ]

Only been to France once, for an hour (ok maybe 2)... When I was an apprentice we went to something in the Calais Euroturnnel terminal! Didn't even have to get my passport out

That was to do with electric, or somethink ???? It was in 1995!!!

 

[Victor]

Are you all sorted now?