Incompetant Person Y French Electrician

[SteveInFrance]

Hi,
This is my first post, it is a bit long but I felt a full explanation is necessary.
I am a competent DIYer and I live in the South of France where the rules are quite a bit different from the UK. The agent of a house I rent out requested a Divi (Quote) from what they said was the best electrician in the area, after a problem was reported by the tenant. The quote was for €400 to run a new earth to the property.
Now I know that the property has an earth, so went to investigate and found the problem in about two minutes. The 10mm cable from the consumer unit where it connects to the earth test point (barrette de coupure de terre) had become so lose that I just pulled it out. So after ten minutes to empty the cupboard so I could get to it, it was a simple two minute job to re-connect it safely. I really cannot believe that this sparky? was prepared to leave an installation in an unsafe condition while he prepared a quote sent it by post and waited for prepayment when he could have sorted it very quickly and sent me a bill for the call-out. OK the installation has RCD's, if they work.
Now, I have asked around for recommendations of other competent electricians but having seen their work wouldn't touch any of them. As a recommendation of "Call an Electrician" is not a reasonable solution, I am asking my question on here.
SO, my question: I have ordered a DiLog 9083P which is identical to the Seaward Powertest 1557
which from the specs will do everything I will ever want. And enable me to check that property and my own house on a regular basis.
Obviously I will do an Earth Loop test and insulation test and also test the RCD's while I am at it to ensure they are operating within spec.
Are there any other tests you guy's would suggest.
What would you recommend as the highest impedance I should accept bearing in mind that this is the South of France so the ground could be very dry.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

[Midwest]

There are a series of dead tests & live tests as stipulated by BS7671.

Although electricity is essentially the same the world over, how its delivered to point of use varies. I would be apprehensive applying UK tests to a French installation, other members may feel differently. Having watched some of those tv shows, where French country piles are refurbished by Brits, I wish you well in your quest. You don't have a big bushy moustache by chance?

 

[fairlight]

You reconnected a broken earth connection but have no way of verifying whether that earth is adequate and complies with French regulations, perhaps that's why it was requested that a qualified electrician was employed for what is after all an essential safety issue.
If you are renting out this property I doubt very much that your claim of being competent will stand up in court should something go wrong resulting in electrocution or fire. If the work is carried out by a qualified person then you have met your obligation in law to ensure the safety of your tenant.

 

[FatAlan]

You state that you are the tenant. Surely you should raise your concerns with your agent..,especially if you believe an electrician is taking the ----. Surely you won’t be footing the bill for a basic maintenance issue?

 

[EricMark]

Insurance is a problem, work done even if sub standard by a registered tradesman is normally seen by insurance companies as you doing a good job ensuring the safety of your tenant, any DIY and you need to be able to show you have to skill to insurance companies and if things go very wrong a court.

The C&G2391 exam had a very low pass rate, this is the exam that shows you know what you are doing when inspecting and testing, and has a practical part and well as written, a British court would accept the 2391 exam as proof you had the skill, not sure in France but should while we are still in the EU be accepted.

In the exam it took around 45 minutes to test the board with standard components fitted to which the examiner had put in some faults for the student to find, if one was to test a house to the same standard one would likely look at a couple of days, and clearly we could not justify that, so the standard method is for any testing is test a percentage, if no faults then OK, if there are than percentage tested increases, however if one was to miss something one would still be called to task, so what many do is test until a fault is found, since once corrected it will need re-testing, then it's down to the guy re-testing if there are any faults not found. That is not what should happen, but it is what does happen.

France does not use the ring final as far as I am aware, but their sockets are polarised, however often German sockets are fitted which are not polarised, if we were to test a French property to British standards 95% would fail, that does not mean not safe, but standard are different, any German socket is a failure.

So you need to ask in a French forum, as we rarely have split phase supplies, and never German sockets.

 

[fairlight]

You state that you are the tenant. Surely you should raise your concerns with your agent..,especially if you believe an electrician is taking the ----. Surely you won’t be footing the bill for a basic maintenance issue?

I read it that the OP is the landlord and the problem was reported to the letting agency by the tenant, unless I've mis-read it.

 

[SteveInFrance]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, I am the landlord not the tenant. I could not sleep easy thinking one of these cowboys has passed it as safe. I know that if an accident happened they would just say "All OK when I left it!" Regardless of your qualifications in the UK trhey would not be accepted in France.
So I am in a quandry, let some cowboy do a bodge and let a tenant be electrocuted or satisfy myself that it is safe. Which is why I asked the question.
The UK is a different matter, I just wanted to check if I was on the right lines. Or there were other tests you would do to verify a good earth.
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Oh, I forgot. Now phases should be polarised but it rarely is, my house was 50:50 a friend had every cable in Mauve, Phase, Neurtral and earth! A friend with a new build which has just been passed is again about 50:50.

 

[fairlight]

Sorry but I find it hard to believe that there are not any competent electricians in your area and they are all cowboys.

 

[FatAlan]

I think I would be doing more research on reputable French electricians who complied with their regs especially if there was a trust issue with the agent.

 

[Chivers]

I found that Meter you've ordered to be ok for Testing ELI tests but the RCD test was erratic and often wouldn't work. I used one for basic tests on Radial circuits when I installed mobile comms racks .