France in Focus

I want to fit an electric heated towel rail in my shower room. Probably around 500w
My question is can it be plugged in using a standard socket or does it require a permanent connection?
Thanks

Ours came with a plug on it.

500W is considerably less power than your kettle so a plug is no problem; however for a fixed installation like this I personally would prefer a permanent wiring in.

And respecting the minimum distance from the "wet" area.
Stay safe!

@ Exile, as long as the socket and the towel rail are in a "safe" area, the regs allow the use of a plug. See pages 8 and 9 in this summary of the 2015 revisions of the French electrical code. It's about: Nouveaux schémas des volumes de sécurité dans un local contenant une baignoire ou une douche.

Trouble with direct wiring as in the case of a fixed appliance, is that unless there is a switch on the actual towel rail, you can't easily turn it off.

We had a heated towel rail in our last house, plugged in to a "safe-distance" socket. No problem, and being equipped with a thermostat, was easy enough to control.

Reputedly very expensive to run?

tagh wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 2:26 pm Reputedly very expensive to run?

Probably. It was installed by an electrician along with new electric central heating, powered by (so they said) all-singing 'n dancing storage rads.

tagh wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 2:26 pm Reputedly very expensive to run?

What isn't??