Are there any electricians on the Forum?

[stevieturbo]

Exactly what have you got at the mains incomer ?

Is it just a single phase meter tapped off the 3 phase cable/fuses or what ?

Or is the actual metering already set up with a 3 phase meter etc , or CT's and remote meter ?

[Eliot]

I've been told by a friend who has three phase that they bill you for the highest used phase and ignore the two lower readings.

So if your house is on one phase and a few bits and bobs are on the other phase, you will be paying considerbly more in electricity.

I've not seen this fact confirmed anywhere - but worth asking beforehand.

[stevieturbo]

Ive only ever really done new installations ( years ago ), but in every case all 3 phases were always metered.

I have seen a 3 phase meter, but generally they used remote current transformers around each phase on the incomer side to a separate meter. Although these werent domestic installations.

[Rossco]

Hi Stevie

At the moment I have just the three phases with the domestic tapped off one and metered.

I was assuming that it would be a case of metering the other two phases.

Elliot, I assume you mean that any 3 phase equipment I use would therefore draw 1/3 of it's required power from the same phase as the domestic supply thereby increasing the bill. Probably not too much of an issue.

Would I be better getting all three phases metered and fed into a distribution board which could supply domestic single phase as well as the workshops 3 phase?

[stevieturbo]

Can you take a photo of where the mains enters your premises and where the meter is ?

Most 3 phase systems, the designer/installer would try and balance the loads over all 3 phases. So I guess in that respect, monitoring one phase could give some sort of average.
Although I havent seen that myself.

But as to what you can and cannot do with the supply will depend what you have.

From a legal perspective. You cannot touch anything prior to the meter, and usually anything like this will have seals or tags of some sort to prevent you accessing the supply.

So are the other phases free for you yo gain access too, or are they sealed off ?

[stevieturbo]

As you can see, those are sealed.

It does appear there is a 3 phase supply there ( assuming they are all connected at source lol )

So you'll have to speak to the supply provider as to what they can do for you. Only they can touch what you have there ( legally anyway )

[Rossco]

So you'll have to speak to the supply provider as to what they can do for you. Only they can touch what you have there ( legally anyway )

Which kind of brings me full circle. I've spoken to Npower but the numpties on the phone either have no idea what 3 phase is or else tell me it'll cost thousands to bring it in from the road.

What I want is a leckie to take a look, confirm that all 3 phase are there and do everything up to the final connection. Perhaps when I'm offering to line Npowers pockets they'll wake up.

I'd be surprised if all 3 phases aren't there as I live in an old railway station.

Cheers for the help Stevie

[stevieturbo]

Unless the spark can spike access to the fuses from above, or pull the fuse sufficiently to stick a probe in to test for power, there is little they can do.

Well...without cutting the seals, which again is illegal for them to do.

Of course...the other option is just to cut them yourself, and say they've always been like that.

But yea, you need to get speaking to someone with a brain at your provider.

[ian.stewart]

They might need to ask for a commercial section, I know my mate has a 3 phase supply at the bottom of his garden, I ran a 3 phase armoured cable to the bottom of the post and left enough to connect the cable, the rest of his workshop was wired to spec, they still charged him £1700 to connect it up, which took approx 35 mins

[unstable load]

Do you have the option of changing suppliers?
Quite often, the threat of a loss of an easy, captive audience will shake the most incompetent into life.
Or, get hold of your local paper and see if they have a consumer watch section that will hop on the bandwagon with you, bad publicity also works wonders to light a fire under bums that have been stagnant too long.....

[DaveEFI]

It may be illegal to cut seals, but it's generally ignored if it is done for a genuine reason, like fitting a new consumer unit. When I did this I also moved the meter a few inches to tidy up the board. They'll only investigate missing seals if you suddenly start using much less electricity.

Any chance of a pic of the riser?

FWIW, it's not usual to have more than one phase in the same house, due to the much higher voltage between phases, which is 415 rather than 240 across one phase.