Upgrade to 3 phase

[SUNRAY]

I wasn't suggesting there was, just curious about "peaked at 103A" vs "their total load is only 7KW"....

Total of 25.2A lighting
7 Hand driers
Catering: cooker & slow cookers
Some electric heating
7.4KW stage lighting

I don't know what was on at the peak measurement.

 

[SUNRAY]

Probably not as 'old' (or odd) colours as mine ....

View attachment 136855

Kind Regards, John

Is this pic pre or post meter?

 

[SUNRAY]

Interesting. I must say that it's not a set of colours I have personally ever seen used for phase identification, but my experience of all things 3-phase is pretty limited, so that doesn't prove a lot.

Kind Regards, John

I always wondered if green was used on pylons due to fading of the original colours, especially red fading to white.
However I have also seen it elsewhere, like yours, and equally wondered if main distribution used a different set of colours.

 

[SUNRAY]

If the head is 3 phase there's a very good chance. Maybe the dno need to replace the head then the meter operator needs to replace the meter.

We have exactly that situation, a three phase head with a single phase meter. I know all three phases are live because they checked them all when they replaced the iron age cutout with a modern plastic one.

I'm hoping as the lead feed is 22-23mm diameter whereas mine at home is 15mm.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Total of 25.2A lighting

Scope for savings there?

I don't know what was on at the peak measurement.

If I had to bet I would say it was interval, or just after the show finished - a rush of people into the toilets, and all the hand driers working at the same time.

 

[JohnW2]

Is this pic pre or post meter?

Pre. Those are the DNO service fuses (aka an apology for a 'cutout') fed from my overhead supply.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I always wondered if green was used on pylons due to fading of the original colours, especially red fading to white. ... However I have also seen it elsewhere, like yours, and equally wondered if main distribution used a different set of colours.

I seem to recall that when I asked the late-lamented westie about this, he said that, in days of old, individual Electricity Boards used "all sorts of colours"! I suspect that those discs may be 'original', from when the house first got an electricity supply, which must be best part of a century ago.

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

Pre. Those are the DNO service fuses (aka an apology for a 'cutout') fed from my overhead supply.

Kind Regards, John

Yeah, wondered why they were sealed

 

[JohnW2]

Yeah, wondered why they were sealed

You might also have wondered why there is a second cable coming out of the DNO side of the 'red' phase fuse (and also why, per my arrow, the DNO's incoming neutral has red insulation!)

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

I seem to recall that when I asked the late-lamented westie about this, he said that, in days of old, individual Electricity Boards used "all sorts of colours"! I suspect that those discs may be 'original', from when the house first got an electricity supply, which must be best part of a century ago.

Kind Regards, John

Very likely.
This brings back a distant recollection of working on a very old house as a young boy [early-mid 60's] which IIRC was green & orange for some circuits and black & orange for others in enamel insulated wires on ceramic insulators.
And the 50's council house wiring with cotton over rubber singles using black over black for neutral, black over red for power live, red over red for lighting live, red over black for strappers and green over red for SL.

 

[SUNRAY]

You might also have wondered why there is a second cable coming out of the DNO side of the 'red' phase fuse (and also why, per my arrow, the DNO's incoming neutral has red insulation!)

Kind Regards, John

I saw the red but to be honest it is so common seeing incorrect coloured tails I didn't think it's worthy of comment.
I'd also seen the extra connexion but hadn't revisited the pic since I mentioned seals.

 

[wv62]

I always wondered if green was used on pylons due to fading of the original colours, especially red fading to white.
However I have also seen it elsewhere, like yours, and equally wondered if main distribution used a different set of colours.

I mainly work on transformers and switchgear at power stations and subs and I've never come across a green phase markers. None of the Grid, WPD or SSE sites I've been to have had green phase markers either so perhaps it's a very old system?

 

[JohnW2]

I saw the red but to be honest it is so common seeing incorrect coloured tails I didn't think it's worthy of comment.

I'm glad I took that photo when I could. The guy who chaged our meter about a year ago seemed very conscientious and did a lot of 'tutting' when he saw that - so the red insulation is now hidden under some grey silicone!

I'd also seen the extra connexion but hadn't revisited the pic since I mentioned seals.

Whenever I post that piccie, someone usually comments on it. The fact is that in 1950, what had previously been two 'attached parts' of my house were sold off as separate dwellings. One of those now gets its (single-phase) supply directly from the pole (via the same ABC cable that supplies me) and the other (once 'my' billiard's room, but now a 5-bed house!) gets its (single-phase) supply 'looped' from that extra connection to the DNO side of the 'red' phase service fuse.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I mainly work on transformers and switchgear at power stations and subs and I've never come across a green phase markers. None of the Grid, WPD or SSE sites I've been to have had green phase markers either so perhaps it's a very old system?

As I said, I suspect that my ones are probably best part of 100 years old, and would presumably have been put there by the East Midlands Electricity Board (now WPD).

Kind Regards, John

 

[Steven Prentice]

Going back to the original question, what is the budget to get a 3 phase supply (or even just to get a second supply at the same phase)?

The reason I ask is that it might be cheaper (and greener) to use that budget to buy the LED stage ligts and problem somved a lot cheaper and quicker.

For example they might instal the metering for free, but then you will need to add your installation - consumer unit might need changing, a certain amount orf rewiring to split the circtuits up between the phases, redecorating, and so on.

It might be worth considering reducing your peak load rather than increasing your supply.

Final question, if you get chance, alot of supply cables ahve the cable sizes - what the cable actually is - printed / embosed on the outer insulation - if you can have a close look you might see some working on it - and let us know what it is. Failing that, try to measuer the circumgference of the cable, this can indicate the cable size underneath and from that can give a suggestion whether it is a single phase cable or 3 phases (the manufacturers give tables of sizes and similar cables have similar sizes)