3 Phase supply - Help

[Judith Chester]

The red thing:
View attachment 146100

Ahh apologies there are wires coming down from this however you can’t see into it as the card has been wrapped around. There is some kind of dark black leaked tar type of substance so I can’t see much really and it’s stuck too the floor

 

[JohnD]

the tar is an insulating material that was poured into the cutout years ago. Unless it is hot and still dripping out, it does not require prompt attention. But if you inform your electricity supplier they will pass the message on to the network operator who will probably renew it.

Use the words "tar leaking from cutout" and they will know what it is.

If you look at the website of your electricity supplier, search "leaking tar" it will probably say something like:


"If the leaking substance is hot
If there's a hot substance like black tar leaking from your electricity meter, and it has a strange smell, you need to phone your local network operator. You can find the number on our emergency phone numbers page.

If the leaking substance is cold
If the substance is cold and there's no smell, phone our enquiry line on xxxx xxxx xxxxx. Our advisers will take your details and pass them to your local network operator who will contact you to discuss what needs to be done."

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just to emphasize -

if you didn't have a 3 phase supply, this is the only bit that's not yours which wouldn't be there -

 

[Judith Chester]

Got home from work and my husband has managed to open the top MEM box. Turns out it’s a fuse box for the storage heaters that we have just had removed.

 

[John D v2.0]

Our bog standard semi has a 3 phase cutout too, it was a metal pitch filled boat, not meeting many ip regs and with reliablere fuses of unknown size.
The dno came and replaced it with no further hassle.
Only 1 phase is in use.
We just have a standard meter with an isolator after and a single set of tails.
To the op, your electrician will need to isolate and remove everything that's unused. If there's only a single phase meter then everything else will be dead. Make sure the meter fitter is clear what should be left disconnected. Don't open anything that's got main power to it without isolating first.

 

[JohnD]

this is the only bit

And (some of) the the Henley Blocks.

It looks to me as if you have more than one CU, so a 100A DP isolator could usefully be fitted directly after the meter, to act as a main switch to isolate your entire installation. You electrician could provide and install it prior to the meter change, with new 25mm meter tails provided ready for connection. He will need to return on the changeover day to reconnect your CUs and any switchfuses still in use.

 

[Notch7]

Lucky you.

Some people would love to have a three phase supply.

Take up a hobby like engineering or woodwork

 

[JohnW2]

It looks to me as if you have more than one CU, so a 100A DP isolator could usefully be fitted directly after the meter, to act as a main switch to isolate your entire installation. You electrician could provide and install it prior to the meter change, with new 25mm meter tails provided ready for connection. He will need to return on the changeover day to reconnect your CUs and any switchfuses still in use.

I suspect that a lot of what's currently there (including multiple CUs/fuse boxes) may well either be totally removed or replaced with the (probably single) new CU ....

... Our electrician will fit un a new consumer unit but who is responsible for removing the huge 3 phase supply unit?......

... but an isolator would still be useful.

As a personal/technical comment ... if it were me, I don't think I'd even suggest that they should formally change it into a single-phase supply - i.e. even if they decided to replace the cutout (e.g. because of the black stuff), I would ask for a new 3-phase one (with two phases not connected to anything) 'just in case' I thought of a need in the future, even if only one phase was going to be used now.

Indeed, I might well go as far as asking for the 3-phase supply to be connected to a 3-phase meter and a 4-pole isolator - again, even if I had no thoughts of using more than one of the phases in the foreseeable future. The OP might even want to discuss that possibility with her electrician (and then, if the answer were yes, with the supplier). At least with my supplier, 3-phase supplies cost exactly the same (both standing charge and usage) as single-phase, so nothing is lost by retaining 3-phase - but the cost of changing from 1-phase to 3-phase in the future, should it ever be needed, could be very high.

Kind Regards, John

 

[John D v2.0]

even if they decided to replace the cutout (e.g. because of the black stuff), I would ask for a new 3-phase one (with two phases not connected to anything)

Theother two phases need terminating somehow unless they are changing the cable too. Our DNO said they had to fit a proper 3 phase cutout if the incomer was 3 phase, but they said they had come across one or two where it had just been tucked in somewhere a long time ago.

 

[JohnW2]

Theother two phases need terminating somehow unless they are changing the cable too. Our DNO said they had to fit a proper 3 phase cutout if the incomer was 3 phase ...

That's why I said I would ask them to fit another 3-phase cutout if they decided that the present one needed replacing, even though I was only going to be using one phase for the foreseeable future - to avoid the risk (albeit probably a very low risk, because it would represent far more work for them!) that they might decide to change the incoming cable to a single-phase one!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Lectrician]

 

[Lectrician]

You can see the red supply tails from henleys to the isolator/contactor. There is also a pair of reds from the volt free meter outputs to switch the contactor. They do look single insulated which is not good. All this can be removed by an electrician.

 

[Risteard]

They do look single insulated (sic) which is not good.

Non-sheathed...

 

[JohnW2]

Non-sheathed...

Arguing for the sake of it.

Non-sheathed and non-double-insulated - if (as Lectrician thinks) it has only one layer of 'plastic', no-one could possibly suggest that it was either 'double insulated' or 'insulated and sheathed'. It's bad enough quibbling about the name when there are two layers of 'plastic', but when there is only a single layer, which simply must be insulation, then you really cannot (or should not) argue with "single-insulated". since that's precisely what it is.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Diver Fred]

I'd not worry about the 3-Phase bit and peices unless they really are in your way.
The meter is a mdern (read industrial 'smart') 3Phase one. Doesn't matter if one, two or all 3 phases are consuming energy it has only one output so will serve as a domestic one also.
Any property with 3phase and a 3P meter installed is worth more. Please don't ask the supplier to remove it 'cause if you or your successor in the property want 3 phase for their use it is so expensive to have it installed and the reasoning to have installed so converluted and difficult.