Couple of French electrics related Q's

[bigbillybagel]

Hi guys (and gals)

I have a couple of Q's I'd like to ask - I apologize beforehand if they seem ridiculous/daft (I am below Novice level, and green).

I live in a very old chateau in the Lot region of France. My wife's father did the wiring here, and there is no earth to speak of anywhere. There wasn't even a board for all the wires to go into until my brother-in-law (French) came and installed one (he had just finished sparky course over here).

My questions are:-

As we have no earth in the house, how does this affect the electrics during storms? We have Belkin surgemasters for the PC/Livebox and TV/Satellite but would it still be adviseable to unplug everything during storms or should the Belkins take care of any possible strikes?

We also sometimes get a spark when we plug stuff into the socket - something to be very worried about?

Also, bear with me - I made an external extenion with a double exterior socket for my security light. The problem is that to plug this in leaves the plug sticking out and it exposed to the elements.....is there anyway I can wire the lights wire directly to the socket? (sounds daft to me in my head, but I thought I'd ask!!!).

Cheers!

 

[wingcoax]

Keep well in with your brother in law, Get him to install an earth system. As you live in a chateau i would also install a lightning rod if ,as you seem worried, a storm should strike.

 

[mointainwalker]

BBB

If your brother-in-law has done an electrician's course ( of whatever type ) and then installed a consumer unit I can't believe he hasn't installed an earth.

(Having said that, I haven't heard of electrician's "courses" here as they run in the UK, I thought it was still a multi-year apprenticeship)

Once the CU is in, this simply consists of a heavy copper cable ( 25 mm2 ? ) which is run outside and connected to a suitably dug-in earth-stake.

According to the type of soil condtions you might require a greater or lesser buried length of cable before being connected to the stake this being determined by measuring the resistance to ensure that it is within norms.

If nothing else, this should allow you to run one or two earthed circuits for your more important appliances before you re-wire completely ( which I assume you will be doing ? )

You'll be able to buy a waterproof junction box with an IP rating in any DIY store with a cap that either screws on or has a positive lip[ that you have to close over and the cable is fed through moulded rubber grommets that you can cut to cable size. Shouldn't cost you more than E 5 max unless you buy Legrand which rip you off ridiculously for everything.

As for lightning I would expect ( but am NOT an electrician) that no earth would have a sinificant effect and before my electricity supply lines were put underground, I certainly unplugged valuable items before a storm.

One of my neighbours had a TV explode and another time I had a modem burnt out when the 'phone lines were hit.

If it interests you, in the Lot you would not be required to fit a surge-suppressor in the CU for a new build. This is because there is an official map in the regs NFC 15-100 which lists the "official" number of lightning days per year and the Lot gets 23 which is just below the threshhold for obligatory fit.