Mains voltage 245V! Will my appliances be damaged?

[jimbox]

Given that the domestic mains voltage here in the UK is supposed to be 230V I am bit concerned that I'm measuring the household mains supply to be around 245V.

Having a sustained voltage this high can't be doing the household appliances an awful lot of good, and will presumably shorten their life expectancy running at this level, particularly incandescent light bulbs?

Should I contact the electricity supplier about this?

 

[macmini]

it's pretty normal to be honest.

 

[Adam_151]

Officially the voltage is 230v +10% / -6% which means if you work it out, it can go as high as 253v, 240v and a tad over that is about average, it will shorten lamp life, try and buy ones made for 240v as opposed to 230v, I've measured a range of voltages at home between 243-247v so its pretty normal as the above poster states


There is some info on here about it: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/1.1.htm

hope this helps

Adam

 

[baldelectrician]

have been at houses as high as 252V and as low as 224V

They all work, but in the 252V the shower works a treat.

 

[Dellsmp]

If the volts are higher the current is lower so do you get more power for less pennies?

 

[ebee]

If the volts are higher the current is lower so do you get more power for less pennies?

Sorry thats wrong

 

[ebee]

Voltage is actually 240 +/- a bit say 4% it never changed and might never change but it has been reclassified as has most of Europe to 230 but the limits opened up so everyone "magically" is on the same voltage.
Your voltage is quite normal. It`s true that filament lamps are badly affected.
It used to be a rule of thumb that 10% increase/decrease of resulted in 50% increase/decrease of lamp life.
Lamps seem to be grossly under engineered these days (and probably rough handled) so often last 10 seconds or less on average (slight exageration)

 

[Dellsmp]

P= IxV
therefore I=P/V
so if V rises I reduces
hence if volts are higher current is lower
or if current remains same and volts rise then power also rises
correct me if I'm wrong
time for another beer

 

[Spark123]

ebee is correct, it is (for arguaments sake) the resistance which is constant, so increasing the voltage increases the current.

 

[ebee]

You`ve got it part correct but partly wrong. I`ll explain.
A shower or some appliances are mostly much of a plain impedance (resistance) therefore any risefall in voltage applied to a fixed resistance will allow a similar rise/fall in current in that fixed resistance.
Correspondingly sas both voltage & current alter then power (Watts) rise is squared.
On the other hand a power rating stated at one voltage would have a correspondingly different (inversely) resistance if it was rated at another voltage.
Thats why our trusty old 8.4 KW showers (originally rated at true 240 ) are rated 7.7KW for 230V because the impedance of that shower has not changed

 

[Dellsmp]

It was a bit of a throw away remark
You are quite correct,
Still cant fathom why people insist on the biggest power shower they can get!
These 10Kw+ showers could take your skin off,

 

[ebee]

It was a bit of a throw away remark
You are quite correct,
Still cant fathom why people insist on the biggest power shower they can get!
These 10Kw+ showers could take your skin off,

Yes that OK mate in certain repects you reply would indeed have been correct

 

[Adam_151]

just to add to what has already been said, if you go for a stroll round B+Q and pick up a 9.5kw shower and read the box, it'll say something like 9.5kw @ 240v, 8.7kw @ 230v , so when we are working what size breaker to use, it'd be wrong to do 9500/230 = 41A ,we should do 9500/240 = 39.6A (or if you insist on using 230... 8700/230 = 37.8A)