We're Geoff & Jen, about to embark on our first ever rebuild, in another Country from May 2020, after purchasing two bank repos in Turre Spain. (not an easy task)
We lived in Mojacar for 18 months, in two properties. Then we decided what we needed from a Spanish Property..... Which was going to be a hard find.
So during the lock down we discovered an amazing opportunity at the right price, to get these two apartments to a good livable standard.
So with my Engineering & DIY skills & Jen's Design ideas the journey begins.......
Along with a TV show My Dream Derelict Home in the Sun following our progress...
I find it much easier to work with electricity in USA than in Europe (and I am European). The sockets are bigger and much easier to wire. The sockets and their housing are also more solid and sturdy, and it is more rapid to fasten them to the studs. I would say it took me nearly double the time to wire my house in Europe vs my house in USA. Of course, it also helps that the current is weaker so that an accident will not hurt you or kill you.
Easier to wire? I'm the US you must mend the wires and crew then. I Europe the sockets have waho style connectors. Sure I the US they are more Standardized. I'm Europe every socket is wired differently.
@@okaro6595 I am from Europe by the way. No, you must not mend them in USA if you do not want to, you have the option of sticking them right in and tighten them with the screw. Obviously, if you mend them, it is so much stronger than the European system, so it is nice to have that option. Also, the copper wire is just one thread, not twenty or thirty and a mess like in Europe. Double sockets come together as a nice prewired standard in USA and no need for you to do anything and you can buy built in moisture and spike protection as well. The American system is infinitely better. I have wired in two European countries and in USA. Even the socket housing boxes are much easier to attach to the wall in USA. Unfortunately, the European system builds on the German system
@@24June91 bend. There are double sockets in Europe also. In some countries they prefer two singles side by side as the cords do not block each other. In Finland that is never done.
What I hate is that spaniards' method of fixing the outlets to the walls f***ing suck and are LAZY. They rip out so easily. I had to replace them in my flats a couple of times and was shocked to find they do the same LAZY crap in another comunidad when I bought my house!!!
Calling it a "Spanish plug" is kind of funny. LOL 😂 😂 FIY That's the European standard. As in, from Portugal to Norway it's all the same. UK just has to screw themselves up as usual. Individual identity or sheer stupidity. You decide... tip: Get a "double plug" so you don't have to deal with extensions, alignment, etc. One set of original cables and that's it. Save time, work and complications. ;-)
It is a German design and various countries have adopted it but it really is not an European standard. 28 European countries of 40 use it. Finland adopted it in 1930. Spain adopted it in the 1980s.
@@okaro6595 But still different from the German ones in the way it is installed. The frame and the insert here are usually not taken apart, usually riveted together so you can't separate them without destroying them. And the frame is held in place by the cover that is fixed with a screw to the socket outlet. And the good socket outlets here have no screw terminals anymore, same is for the light switches. Only cheap, or special stuff, has screw terminals here. Special stuff would be a wall mounted pull switch.
In Finland hey put the phase on the right and the neutral on the left. Of course it really does not matter in the end as you can plug it either way. I really like this two side by side compared to the Finnish single double socket one on top of the other. Sure this requires more wiring.
Thanks I was looking for official wiring since I’m also going to renovate stuff soon. I’m the Netherlands we use brown for positive and black is it is after a switch. Absolutely not sure how the rest of the world is handling this. 😂
In Sweden, it's also brown for live (positive) but now orange for switched live (after a light switch). Before orange, white was commonly used as the switched live. In France, they use red wire for the live (and blue for the neutral). In the UK, it's brown and blue - but there is no different colour for a switched live after a light switch.
@@DavidJackson-zi1he strange that this differs from country to country. In the Netherlands the old scheme was: green for positive, red for negative, how confusing and dangerous if you know nothing about it. 😂
@@ElJasperino It is very strange! But if you read about the history of wiring colours, you'll understand it was much much more confusing in the past! For fixed wiring (in buildings) the UK changed colours in 2004. Before that, the old scheme was red for positive, black for negative and green/yellow for protective (earth). In Germany and Austria, the old colour for earth was red, but in Italy it was yellow. So many years ago, a red cable could be positive (UK), negative (NL) or protective conductor/earth (DE/AT). There's a great (UK) article called "The history of colour identification of conductors" which explains how we all (half) harmonised...
Is it possible to rewire it so switches only control the ceiling lights and not the sockets? Then control lamps either manually or via smart plugs/bulbs?
