my parents farm as 3 phase split to single to supply four houses and a workshop,the problem they have is that any thing that take a large load "eg immersion heater" melts the neutral cable ,have been told that there could be too much resistance in the neutral because its split from 3 phase ,electric supplier say it not there problem and its internal to the house's and workshop any ideas !!!!!!
3 phase to single neutral problem
- Thread starter bogoiler
- Start date
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yeah, get a qualified sparky out to take a look at it, then get him to contact the DNO and tell them why it's their fault and why they should fix it...
if he decides it's not the DNO's fault, but whoever split the supply anyway, then you'll either have to shell out for a supply upgrade, or for the sparky to sort the problem out whichever way he sees fit..
alternatively, ditch the immersion heaters and try solar, ground source or gas / oil heating for your water..
if he decides it's not the DNO's fault, but whoever split the supply anyway, then you'll either have to shell out for a supply upgrade, or for the sparky to sort the problem out whichever way he sees fit..
alternatively, ditch the immersion heaters and try solar, ground source or gas / oil heating for your water..
the yeb split the supple because it was not good enough for the workshop and made the lghts in the house dim sparky's coming to test it again will see if he'll talk to yeb is it possible that there's a resistance by splitting the phases
if it's been split and is feeding more than it used to then likely it's not a big enough supply anymore..
this is supported by your mention of the lights dimming...
this is supported by your mention of the lights dimming...
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What you're saying doesn't really make sense. The act of 'splitting the phases' in itself shouldn't introduce any extra resistance into the neutral. However, loose connections or incorrectly sized cables in your side of the installation could cause this, but then the heating effect would also be localised. Without more information it's hard to say.
More likely is that the phases are unevenly loaded, causing excess neutral current and hence overload.
keighley ,there's a transformer , it was replace when the 3 phase was put in ,it goes under ground from the pole ,the problem came on when the supply was changed didn't do it when it was all single phase
The act of spreading loads such as immersion heaters around the circuits should reduce the current in the neutral at the supply head, one time when neutral currents can become excessive is when the neutral is reduced or there are items like lots of discharge lighting which can introduce harmonics into the system.
Can you get a sparky in with a clamp on ammeter to see what the actual neutral current is?
Can you get a sparky in with a clamp on ammeter to see what the actual neutral current is?
it melts the outer cover will ceck the wire size and tell you ,does it on the neutral in the workshop and thats a big cable 16mm2
at what point was the supply changed to 3 phase? when the houses were built?
like I said in my original reply to you, you need a qualified sparky out to have a look at it..
like I said in my original reply to you, you need a qualified sparky out to have a look at it..
The ammeter must be of the 'true RMS' type otherwise it will not pick up harmonic currents
long after they where built
bogoiler said:
How big is this "immersion heater"? Even with the phases completely unbalanced, I can't see a 3kW domestic heater pulling enough current to melt 16 sq mm cable - unless it's faulty of course!
Just a thought; are you sure you really do have three different phases and not three supplies all taken off the same phase?
the 16sq mm cable is the main in to the workshop they split the phases because of the load in to the workshp ! sparky just tested live 28.5 amp and neutral 26 amps he thinks that the suppliers nuetral is loosebogoiler said:
How big is this "immersion heater"? Even with the phases completely unbalanced, I can't see a 3kW domestic heater pulling enough current to melt 16 sq mm cable - unless it's faulty of course!
Just a thought; are you sure you really do have three different phases and not three supplies all taken off the same phase?
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