I am on the french side of the border in Alsace and my house is having new wiring throughout. So, I have a question as I have no clue about electrics what so ever.

So, I noticed in the living room, picture below, they are going to run a power socket from a light switch? Seems a bit odd to me. This is a "reputable company", but if it runs from the light switch does it mean the light has to be switched on every time you want to use the socket?

Is it legal?

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Depends on the switch they use. The outlet can be switched, or unswitched.

Yes, I have at least one such switch in my home (which I bought at Migros).

Tom

That's the norm here, very handy when you want to use the vacuum cleaner or iron something and no, you don't need to have the light turned on to activate the power outlet.

You can't tell anything like that from the photo.

All the empty channelling tells you is that wires are going to run from somewhere to a light switch socket and a power socket. They may be the same wires running in the conduit or two separate sets running in the conduit (which isn't yet in).
Running the wires in the same conduit isn't illegal.

Using the same wires? That depends on the French regulations. It's illegal in the U.K. but legal in Switzerland.

So, you may, or may not have a problem, depending on the legality of something that you cannot even prove is going to happen.

I'd worry about something else

Unlike carpenters, plumbers and other tradesmen, electricians' work is governed by federal laws, not just by trades' councils. If they make a big mistake they might be sent to prison, so they tend to try and get things right, the first time! Ask to see their papers and then worry about something else.

As a rule, here in CH (and probably in France too) they just use the same wires on a "loop" or "branch" for different purposes.

If the current is going to the light switch, then they continue the same wires to a socket, but they will work independently of each other. This reduces the number of wires they need to use in the plastic pipes (they tend to use individual wires and not 3-core cables). In your example they may only need 4 (3+1) instead of 6 (3+3).

Back in the UK, I was familiar with having separate fused circuits for lights and sockets for each floor ..... here they're lumped together and separated only by floor.

Well, the UK is totally different, i.e. they use single phase and ring circuits, here it's 3-phase and radial circuits.

Tom

Something else to worry about..

In Germany and the UK electrical cables must run vertically or horizontally from switches/sockets/junction boxes etc. Never diagonally.

Perhaps the french are more laissez faire?

Declan

I have a couple of power outlets in the living room controlled via a regular light switch. As the landlord explained to me, it's so you can switch floor standing lights and lamps on via a regular switch, instead of directly on the lamp. I think the power sockets have a special symbol on them to indicate which ones are controlled via the light switch.

So out of 3 points at one outlet, one has the special symbol indicating they control the lights, the other two are just normal ones that you plug your regular stuff in to.

I am happy to worry about something else, but I had it pointed out by a friend who said that 45 degree wiring was dangerous, so I did a bit of google searching and just wondered if anyone knew about this subject. I am paying lots of money so if I need to challenge something, now is the time.


They are a "reputable" firm and I saw references, but I am just checking.....

Thanks for the advice

Ah, the knowledgeable friend....

To be honest, the best forum for questions about wiring in France would be a French forum.

In purely practical terms, diagonal runs can be a pain up higher if you are fixing shelves or cabinets or pictures to walls when drilling holes and but aren't likely to be a problem so low down.

Take a photo (okay, you already have) so you know in future where the cable runs are in case you need to drill into the walls.
(Take them of all the runs around the house).

We already paid a lot of money to have our kitchen redone, and it also has 45 degree wiring, also in the ceiling. Not one of the other workers, nor the main contractor, questioned it. Considering the work to dig out the wall for the conduit, diagonal is much cheaper.

Is the 45 degree wiring more applicable for woodframe construction as compared to block?

See page 12 of this:

http://www.vincotte.be/data/PDF/en/I...2010_FR_LR.pdf

Snap .. only we do not have the special symbol reminding you it is controling the light .. and if you forget and run something like an iron from that socket (while the other lights are on .. so the socket works .. easily done) you blow something which means a 400 Chf charge from the electrician to come and fix it... Me, I'm all for separating my lights and my sockets ...

Should all be good done that way even if it differs from our system. We tend to split by lights versus sockets and Swiss by zones such as rooms.


You won't need the light on for the socketss to work and diagonal chasing is OK as long as they are using a conduit (piping) of the wiring. I prefer and ask for vertical chasing and going along walls at skirting level. Its more work but also more predictable for later if you need to drill the wall

F