Swiss wire coding electricity

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
21
Hey all,

I have a ceiling fan that I would like to install. I am going to make sure to shut the electricity off first, which means i'll have to ask to shut it off since there isn't a breaker in my apartment.

My question is if anyone knows if there are any do it yourself videos available on youtube for swiss standards (man I miss those home depot home improvement videos, better yet, i miss home depot!!!)

Cheers

22
Maybe if you read this thread again and concentrate on posts numbered 3 and 11, you will realise there would need to be many videos to cover all the possibilities.

23
Oh Lord he has bestowed mercy up on us, he has spared us from thy all mighty groan, praise Jesus, Hallelujah!

24
Your intellect reflects on your puerile post.

P.S. Have you nothing sensible to say? I thought not.

25
This statement is absolutely true and these can give a false negative reading. I have three in my tool box and only one works. However, (a) these are easy to test and (b) a tested neon screwdriver is certainly better than nothing.

To test a neon screwdriver, remove the bulb from a table lamp (switched on) and prod alternatively the inner metal ring in the bulb holder and then the central metal tab (both metal parts make contact with the bulb). If the neon lamp glows when your finger is placed on the metal cap (NOT the blade) of the screwdriver, then it is working.

26
Another stupid advise which I hope no one will follow. If you put a electrician screw driver into a light bulb socket and you by accident touch the bottom part and the upper ring at the same time and your screwdriver isn't isolated all the way to the very tip you will make a direct short circuit between null and a powered wire and you will see sparks and what not at best and be imposed to a big spark, loud bang and a pair of underwear full of poo at worst........

Be smart. If you don't know exactly what you ate doing i.e. are trained in this stuff.....call an electrician.

27
I'd just like to add my experience here, having recently bought an old Swiss house to renovate and found that the hot water heater (among other things) didn't work.

Boiler wired as 3 phase, red, white and black wires. Opened wall connection and found red and (burnt) white wire connected to two old rubber and fabric insulated (and rather thin) wires; black wire terminated here. Traced wires to kitchen switch where they connected to two (new) 2.5mm blue wires (at least the size was correct). Traced those back to fuse box where they connected to fuses wired as red and black.

My take away from this? It doesn't matter what colour the wires are because you're going to have to check anyway, and if you do hire an electrician, do some research first and watch him like a hawk!

28
Mystery is how did 3-phase worked on 2-wires from kitchen ... check if there is also wire directly from the power line ...they are underground in CH mostly - but metal detector should find it. Either you missed one or you never seen 3-phase system (it be 5 or 6 wires !)

ah , and it's well know for Swiss electricians to be colour blind - so do not complain on people with disabilities.

29
A 3p heater would have got hot with only 2 phases. Just wouldn’t have been as powerful. It’s just 3 resistive loads. Nothing complicated. Indeed colours mean little.