11
The Electrical Work at Château Destinée
Electrical work is not the most glamorous part of restoring a château, and it is certainly not something most guests will ever notice. But when something goes wrong, it becomes very important, very quickly, to know exactly which of the 12 power boxes you need to find and which switch needs to be flicked back on.
Nine power boards, none of them labelled
When we first arrived, there were nine power boards, none of them labelled, and the wiring was, let us say, less than tidy. One of the very first jobs for our electrician was to map each board, work out what was connected to what, tidy everything up, and label it properly. He was French and spoke only a little English, but he painstakingly translated everything for us, which was an enormous help.
Blackouts on busy days
As the château grew and we added walk-in fridges, freezers, and the capacity to host up to 60 guests, the demands on the system increased. When you have hairdryers running alongside ovens, extractor fans, and all the other practical demands of a busy château, it does not take much to test an older electrical setup. We experienced more than a few blackouts. At times, one of us would jump on a push bike and ride down to the gate to reset the system. If guests were getting ready for a wedding, one of us might have to stay there for an hour, repeatedly switching it back on. It was clear that something had to change.
So we added new boards for the new installations and spread the kitchen load away from the other circuits. For a while, that solved the problem.
Heat pumps and a second power line
Then came the next chapter. A few years later, we upgraded our old oil heating system, which had relied on a 48-year-old boiler, to a new system of nine electric air heat pumps. Suddenly, we discovered that we could not run the oven in the kitchen at the same time as the heating or hot water system. That was a much bigger problem.
The solution was significant. We added a new power supply box at the front gate and ran a new cable up to the château. We now have two separate lines, with the heating and hot water on their own supply, and other areas redirected to balance the system more effectively.
Power you never have to think about
The result is something guests may never stop to think about, which is exactly the point. We now have a warm, comfortable château where the heating, hot water, ovens, hairdryers, straighteners, irons, and steamers can all be used at the same time without issue. It may not be the most visible part of the renovation, but it has been one of the most worthwhile - because guests should never have to think about electricity while they are here.
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