Hello all, so I am in France for a while and the only area I have for my favourite hobby is the garage. However there is no power source in there. It is roughly 20m from the house. What I would like to do is run an extension cabble from the house.This will require burying the cable a couple of inches under the lawn. I hope to run a 600watt lamp + intake and exhaust fans + 1 or 2 other bits. Is this cool? The main concern I have is that the outlets in the house are 2 pin and all my gear is 3 pin so I will have to use at least 1 adapter (for the end of the extension cable) and so far I have found only the "travel" type adapters, nothing heavier. Would I be better changeing all my plugs? Or is there no need to worry. Any advise would be greatly appreciated, Chears, Someonelikeyou....

One option would be to simply replace the 13a UK plug on a standard household 4way extension, with a french 16A plug, and connect all your UK plugs into this extension(s).



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Wouldn't be very 'legal' though

I shuddered when I read that. It was like the whole of UK420 walking over my grave at once.

1. Two inches is not enough.
2. I'm sure you need special cable.

Why not run the cable at just above head height down a fence? Some people round my way run the cable from upstairs...

Unless you are electrically proficient, I would simply call in a local qualified electrician and tell them simply that you want outlets fitted in your garage, no more than household use (up to around 3KW), with fuses and trips.

That sorts out the power.

If all your grow equipment comes with UK fittings, you can leave them and simply run an extension as described in post #2

Thanks very much for all your replies and concerns. Changing the plug on the 4 way gang sounds good. What about burying the cable though? I did'nt think that was such a dangerous idea? Any info on this? It will only be there for the next 4 months or so. Could I electrify the garden!!!! Hanging on the fence is a good idea but not practical here. Again thanx for taking the time. S.L.Y.....

it only needs burying deeper so it doesn't get hit by a spade or something of that nature. try routing the cable round a less used bit of garden to lower the risk of it getting chopped. strictly speaking under ground cables need to be armoured. i'd just chop the plug off and hard wire direct to the fuse box and give it its own fuse of around 10amp. that way you know its protected but for a quick fix a travel adapter can be used. they work on hair dryers which are operate between a 1500w and 2000w so i can't see it being a problem for 1 light and the fans etc which would be around 1000w

Yeah, but hairdryers etc., don't have the massive startup current surges that HID ballasts generate, do they?

Something to research a bit further, IMHO.

Have you ever seen anyone hit a power cable with a spade?! usually ends in death m8 to bury a cable you need armored Cable and have to bury at a certain depth also mark with tape (so anyone digging will see it and stop) all this will have to be done within French law on electricity best to run something above ground I would also use a larger than normal cable on the extension to account for the high load over such a distance as for the plugs just get new 2 pin plugs and replace the English ones no problem at all with that as the current is now or soon will be the same as here

My hole digging days are over (unless it's one for myself!!) so no danger of anyone hitting the cabble, that's not a worry and obviously I will be removeing it when I leave. The extension cable I have seen is rated for 3000watts/240volts, that's the biggest I can find, i think that's big enough no?

If it`s rated at 3000w then as long as you are pulling 3000w or below then it will be fine but burying the cable is your choice not advised but your choice also if the extension is on a reel then unravel all from the reel dont have it coiled up as this lowers it`s max load usually 720w ish on the reel 3000w off hope this helps m8

What if someone suddenly needs to dig up a burst water main, or an unexploded bomb or something? And you're out, they do it anyway, and someone gets electrocuted... Doubt they'd be too impressed.

Funny you should mention that Squirrel as my old job was drilling deep holes into the ground for various reasons, one of which was to detect unexploded bombs!!! Me and my mate used to go around sites before building started with a 300kg hydrolic auger and sink 4m holes into the ground and then an army affiliated firm from Holland would follow us and drop probes into the holes which would sniff for mercury and other detination materials. They had a 250 grand armour shielded truck full of computers and whatnot and me and my mate would be in our shorts and t-shirts lugging our drill about with instructions from our boss to stop drilling if we hit anything that sounded "metalic!!!?" Good money though.........
Anyway thanks for all your help, I think i'm going to burry it and change the plug on the extension cord and see how I go. Thanx again all. Someonelikeyou.....

, sounds safe!