Hi. Can someone give us advice please? We have just bought a farmhouse in France to renovate and I am getting excited about the kitchen. My husband is querying whether we can put in an electric range like the rangemasters and run it from the 3phase wiring. Have any of you guys has any advice about how and if we can do this? thanks

Welcome to the Forum
It can be wired in, If it is three phase supply you have. If your not familiar with 3phase wiring then I would recommend getting a sparky in to do it.

If the farmhouse has gas I'd go with that. But yes you can put in an electric range if you have 3-phase in place no problem.

They are much more common than in the UK, local sparky should be able to sort it out no problem

Thanks for the replies - really helpful. One more question - could we run a dual fuel cooker using our electric supply and a gas bottle (like the ones used for BBQ)?

Just to say that this forum is really interesting and informative and i am really enjoying following the threads!

Yes, that's not uncommon.

Hi

To my great delight, we bought a dual-fuel Rangemaster when we first arrived in France. The 5 burners run on a 13kg Butaine bottle, bottles last us about 4 months and are about 28€ a time. We were told that bottle gas is cheaper than mains. The ovens, grill and warming plate run on electric - we had the electricians in to wire it in. I think Rangemaster is part of Aga and is now "Falcon" in France.

Happy cooking

Sue

Hi Sue and thanks to all who have replied.

That was music to my ears about the dual fuel. We have a long way to go before we put in my ideal kitchen - new roof and damp proofing etc, but its good to plan especially with some of the differences with renovating in rural France. Thank you again.

definately get a qualified electrician , 400v ac across two phases will definately kill you , overload protection , earthing , phase rotation ,correct current carrying capacity of the cable are all very important amonst other aspects

Thanks Dave. Will do!

I don't know if you can get 19 kg gas cylinders. The advantage is that they last longer and you can still carry them in a car.
There are often deals on what I assume are the 13Kg cylinders, but make sure you get the correct type of gas.
I would advise checking out the legal side of having tge gas cylinder inside the house. I have a much smaller cooker and the gas cylinder sits inside the cooker unit.

In Scotland the cylinders have to be outside, and it's much easier than having to lug the smaller 13 Kg cylinders up or down stairs.

We run a dual fuel, gas/electric 'range'. Gas is the standard propane housed in an adjoining atelier with a copper pipe connection through a wall to the range, rubber tube both ends as connections. I find the standard cylinder lasts well and having accumulated some added cylinders (we use one for a BBQ), having one in reserve is not a problem.