Electrical and Computer Information/FAQ

Some useful information

General

Registration
All businesses in France have to be registered, therefore they must have a SIRET number - mine is 5076433360013, please check it out at Siret Checker

Insurance
Building contractors must have "assurance decennale" which is a Ten year insurance cover - More detals here
I'm happy to show you my AGF policy which also includes public liabilty cover.

EDF

EDF English speaking helpline - Accounts/Upgrades... etc Note:- Any Technical problems have to be done in French though !!
Phone number to ring is 05 62 16 49 08 or Email simpleenergywithedf@edf.fr

EDF Tariffs
You can view the EDF tariffs here

 

Electrical

Can I use wire/Sockets from the UK?
Although UK components would be safe, they are not to French specifications so should not be fitted, also if there happened to be a fire or worse a death then there could be a problem with any insurance you may have. Another point to consider is that if you decide to sell your house, then the purchasers may ask for a large reduction in price to have the house rewired.

What's an Residual Current Device (RCD) or "Interrupteur différential"?
An Residual Current Device or Interrupteur différential is a device which will disconnect the supply if there's a a small imbalance between the Live and Neutral supply current. The RCD's sense a difference in current, usually 30mA (0.03Amps), and will disconnect the supply within 40mS (0.04 Seconds) which will stop you getting an electric shock.
Note- You may see an RCD/Isolator next to your electric meter, this device is to protect EDF's supply cables in case of a fire and NOT YOU!
The EDF devices are rated at 500mA, 10 times above the 50mA safety level - See the information here about electric shocks
Having one or more 30mA RCD's in your supply circuit is very important - they can save your life! - More info on RCD's here

Do I need an Earth?
YES! If you don't have one, and there's a fault, then the item with the fault will just sit there waiting for you to touch it. With an earth, the fault current will flow down to earth and the Fuse/Breaker will disconnect the supply (See note).
Note. If your house has an Earth Rod (most remote rural locations do, its called a TT System) then it's possible the fault current will not be enough to trip the fuse or breaker, this is where having an RCD becomes important, it will see the fault current and disconnect the supply. More info here

Plugs and Sockets
Each country around the world has its own idea about which is best - More info here
The plugs in France are not marked with Live/Neutral, they just have the centre pin marked as the Earth.
I've not found yet!!, any industrial standards document that stats which pin should be Live and which neutral BUT !!!
Looking at Legrand products and how they are colour coded - then plugs are wired like the UK, that is, when looking at a socket outlet the LIVE comes out of the RIGHT port and NEUTRAL coming out of the Left port (EARTH pin in the middle at the TOP)

Live and Neutral at the SOCKET reversed
In France, having the Live and Neutral reversed in a socket is not a major problem, since if there's a overload fault, BOTH Live and Neutral supplies should be disconnected (Double pole breakers are used where as in UK only single pole ones are).
The main problem is when working with equipment which has its own single internal fuse, this may blow but because Live and Neutral are swapped, the equipment will still be "live"
The reversed supply feeds also causes problems with lighting circuits, most people just turn off the light at the light switch when changing a bulb, but again if the switch is wired incorrectly you could still have a "live" light socket.
Note that on an "Edison Screw" light socket, the CENTER pin should be LIVE, not the outer ring, and that some of the "Energy saving" light bulbs don't like having Live/Neutral swapped, they slowly pulse.

Does France have Ring Circuits?
Simply, no they don't - Info here as to why the UK started to use them and the problems they can cause.

 

Computers

Antivirus
If you have an Antivirus software installed, you should update the virus definition files at least one a week
Some good FREE antivirus software can be found at Comodo, AVG, Avast, and there are loads more, do a search for "free antivirus software" on google

Spyware/Malware
Spyware is software that can get onto your computer by various means and then it will send information back to "undesirable people". The infomation could be email addresses, documents, key stroke files (The software records your key strokes to obtain user ID and passwords you use on websites) ...etc if fact any info that could be "useful" to them.
There are a number of good Spyware tools, most of the above Antivirus software have some plugins but you can use Spybot to scan your system independanlty

Can I use any antivirus/spyware software off the Internet?
Warning, be careful of software that tells you that you have a virus/spyware and THEN asks for some money to remove them !!
Antivirus XP 2008 is one of the ones doing the rounds at the moment which gives you this warning and also keeps shutting your computer down. Its a scam to get money off you and even once you have paid it still causes problems. So always check on the internet about software and see if it has any hidden problems before making ay purchases.

Can you help?
As you can see, computers can bit of a nightmare sometimes, but I have been reparing and "looking after" them for a long time - I worked on computers (Apple) even before Microsoft and Intel came up with the original "PC" so if you have any problems or would like some training please get in touch