How to set up a fuse box in a French home

I am an incorrigible Francophile in most things, but there are a very few times when I draw the line. For example, when it comes to plastic accessories for electricity. 

Some time ago, I ran two circuits from the main consumer unit to the barn: one for the sockets and one for the lights. 

It seemed a good idea to isolate these two outbuilding circuits with a secondary fuse box so that I did not have to walk through the house each time I wanted to switch them off. 

I rigged up a temporary fix and it was a good two years before I got round to making it permanent. 

What I needed was a mini-consumer unit in the corner of the boiler room, which I could use to turn one or both circuits on or off. 

For this I needed a box to contain my miniature circuit breakers or disjoncteurs.

The normal way of doing this in France is to buy un tableau or coffret électrique – a simple plastic box with a rack inside on which to clip the circuit breakers. 

These boxes come in different sizes according to the modules (circuit breakers) they hold. 

I only needed two switches but it seemed sensible to get a box with space for four to allow for future adaptations of the system.

The trouble is that the standard box to hold circuit breakers is made of flimsy plastic. I bought one of these, thinking that what was good enough for the majority of French DIY-ers must be good enough for me. 

I did my best to rig it up but I was highly dissatisfied with the result. 

This was because it had two drawbacks that weighed on my mind. 

One was that when I drilled holes in the top of the thin plastic to pass the cables through, the result looked decidedly cack-handed. 

The other, more serious, problem was a lack of space inside the box. 

I had 11 wires to deal with (four live, four neutral and three earths) and I could not find a way to guide them all into their respective terminals and still be able to push the cover snugly back into its place. The result was not something I felt proud of.

There had to be a better way, I thought, and I went shopping in various DIY stores, big and small, to see if I could find a decent satellite consumer unit. 

There are, I discovered, better tableaux around. They are weatherproof, for outdoor use, and while I was not too worried about keeping water out, I did want something that felt solid. 

The big electric component brands make four-module tableaux but they are expensive. 

I almost went for one of these but then, on my last shopping trip, I found an unbranded box in Brico E.Leclerc for under €13. (They are also available online; search for coffret électrique 4 modules).

The main part of the box is screwed to the wall in four places. Best of all, it has a sturdy metal DIN rail – the shaped medal bar onto which you clip your circuit breakers. 

The lid of the box fits neatly into place with four more screws and has a transparent door, which can be opened and closed.

Things were looking great but there remained one finishing touch. 

It always bothers me when wires do not look neat running through a jagged hole drilled through plastic. 

Browsing online I found that there are some nifty little fittings to disguise the passageway: presse-étoupes (cable glands). 

You have to assemble them in the right order – don’t forget to slide the sheath over the cable before you push the cable into the fuse box – and when you do the result is professional in the extreme.