What a Saga! Well done and thank you for staying the course and reporting your travails. It seems the DNO brigade are de-commiting to domestic 3-phase where they can, hence the retail companies having no use for 3-phase capable engineers. We had a 3-phase 11kv to 440v step down transformer on a pole across the road, driving a 4-conductor local distribution down the road with every third house on the same phase. When the 11kv underground feeder dramatically caught fire, they not only replaced it, but also replaced the transformer with a single-phase one fed between 2 phases of the 11kv and used the secondary to feed all the houses from a single heavier gauge overhead pair. So now absolutely no chance of getting domestic 3-phase here!
I got a 3-phase supply to my house a few years ago. I was told by my previous electricity supplier that I would only need to give 4 weeks notice for the meter to be installed, when I phoned to book a date, they then told me they couldn't give me a date when they would be able to install a 3 phase meter. When I subsequently contacted the DNO, expecting the whole thing to be delayed, they said they would go ahead and install the new 3 phase service as planned and reconnect my existing 1-phase meter. I then had to wait a few months for a 3-phase meter but at least it meant I was only without power for 2-3hrs. The M300 videos brought me here but as others have said, I applaud your determination for sticking with this and getting 3-phase installed. It opens up so many options for you to buy more machinery, which I find is often a bit cheaper than single phase equivalents.
When you recalled the three 1B/C engineers arriving at once I laughed out loud. You deserve an award for patience for sure. Glad to hear you got it all worked out.
What a mess, and I couldn't agree more about the over-fragmentation of the industry is clearly broken. But... Fantastic news that you got it all installed okay in the end! Well done!
Top marks for perseverance. I investigated the time/cost of 3 phase but was put off luckily. My workshop and lathe / mill etc are run from Mitsubishi inverters. Looking forward to seeing more videos of the Harrison lathe in future.
Part 1 and part 2 of your saga were incredibly interesting and, perversely, quite enjoyable. Your patience and perseverance were rewarded in the end. Well done 👏👏👍😀
Really interesting video - Glad that you got sorted in the end though! I’m having a new-build house built at the moment and have requested a 3phase install (they have obliged for £1200 which I thought was reasonable) - That being said they have fitted a standard recessed meter box so now I’m worried that it will be a tight squeeze, if that happens to be the case and they have a struggle fitting it all in, I’ll request they install the incomer & Meter in the garage (regs permitting) and then take a single phase to the meter cab on the house to be terminated into a 2 pole isolator (to then go into the consumer unit) - in this day and age with electric cars / AirSoruce heat pumps and the such - 3 phase should be the norm in all homes (at least to the meter cab for future proofing.
I'm glad it finally came together and I like the generator provision. I can't remember if I mentioned but in Germany it's normal to have three phase at home. The cooker and shower are usually three phase. I remember having a nightmare trying to connect an induction hob in without having a notion which phase was which. Totally agree about the power stations too.
Yes, somebody said there is domestic 3-phase in Sweden too. SSEN wasn't interested in what phase my bungalow was on, so I assume they didn't think it waould make much difference to the load balance on the transformer.
Thanks for completing the story, a fascinating account. As others have said your perseverance is commendable. How on Earth do business that require 3 phase manage, or does making the request as a business make all the difference. If so could you have defined yourself as a business? In addition to your emergency generator do you ever plane to fit solar panels?
The same delays have ruined the livelihoods of many small businesses in the UK. Imagine a chipshop owner moving premises to an address with only single-phase supply, and unexpectedly finding they are unable to trade for many months. The supply companies concerned should, of course, have established channels of communication and co-ordination with each other. But they haven't, because they're not accountable.
Just watched your 2 videos about the "saga" to get 3 phase supply to your home (and workshop). I live in Portugal, so in some ways we have a little less bureaucracy dealing with the distribution company (only one for the country). On the other hand if I was to upgrade a rural supply to 3 phase, I would pay a lot more than you paid to get 63 Amps, even more If they have to upgrade the power transformer ( I have to subsidize for that). Then as soon as I sign a new contract to get electricity I would pay a monthly fee for the power I need. At least most houses and apartments already have option for 3 phase supply, but normally the maximum available is 6.9 or 10,35 kVA for domestic clients. If you want more you also need all your electrical installation inspected again by a company accredited to do it (not your electrician). Anyway I feel your pain. Regards
Maybe they'll train us to install our own meters from now on for free. After all, we're checkout assistants, petrol pump attendants & we can use a machine to post our own parcels!!! While we're at it, we'll be paying benefits for the poor people that can't get another job!!!!
Hi Samuel, some great detail in here, thank you. In the case of meters, my own experience is limited to getting an Economy 7 meter installed. We had three missed appointments over many weeks and each time the energy retailer paid us £125 compensation, and that all gets added to the bills in the end. Apparently they needed a specifically trained engineer - frankly I can't see why because it was a simple box swap. But clearly there was no link between the booking system and the actual availability of engineers. Now talking about electricians taking the easier jobs, I had one case where I had an earth leakage fault tripping the RCCD in the house and three electricians refused the job. I had another case where I needed an unusual installation and it became clear that at least one electrician was operating by convention and not by design. I accepted his quote but when we got close to the job he pulled out. Luckily, I found an NICEIC registered electrician who was happy with a bit design work (not much more than ohms law really) and he was content to take the job. You can see why some elections go for the easier jobs, it's just human nature, but also it highlights that we probably don't properly understand the practical landscape or marketplace for electricians. We need to find the right electrician - qualifications, appetite, mindset etc. I have a friend who is a fibreglass roofer and he will not quote for any job that has the slightest complication because he can fill his day with simple zero risk jobs 7 days a week. I'll just finish by saying I had a SMETS2 smart meter installed a couple of years ago and the installer handed me the 'very dumb' in home display and muttered something about signal and left. So two years on we still have a dumb smart meter, and he knew before he arrived that it would not get the WAN signal - but I'm sure he got paid for the job. (In the North the 2nd generation smart meter WAN is not on the mobile network but on a special private network owned and operated by Arqiva - the same people who provide TV transmitters.) Cheers
Hi, Good to hear from you. I follow your channel. My own electrician, having watched my videos, assured me he certainly would NOT take on project managing this kind of work, and I don't blame him.
@@samuelfielder Ah then I'm honoured if you watch my stuff Samuel. I've just been watching your videos on the Gamet bearings etc. I love the detail of it. It's interesting to compare your 300 with my older 140. You may know that I added an oil feed to several bearings in my headstock. I found on the lower gear range no oil was getting to the bearings (because no oil was getting onto the shelf). Cheers
The only reason you could get 3 phase is because it was available outside your house. If it was 50 m further up the road it would have been virtually impossible (of course with enough money you can have power anywhere!). Very jealous of your 3 phase service!
Where did you source the supply changeover switch? I have been using a generator to run the house whenever we have a (frequent) outage ever since the 1987 storm when we were off for 3 weeks. I just switch off the supply from the street on the consumer unit, and plug in the generator into any socket, typically in the garage, and it feeds back through the consumer unit into the ring mains. This is a suboptimal solution for emergency use only as it bypasses the RCD and relies on you doing things in the right order!
With the world being forced down the electric car route and most cars coming from German manufacturers (majority of households there having 3 phase) you would think they'd be only too glad to run 3 phase to any household that requests it. As far as I'm aware they split the 3 phase most of the time one phase down one street and two down another. Barmy
Hi, I haven't read all of the comments but I'm sure it's been asked, why didn't you use a VFD or a phase converter? It seemed a very expensive route that you chose, I'm not complaining just curious. Thanks for your videos.
What a Saga! Well done and thank you for staying the course and reporting your travails. It seems the DNO brigade are de-commiting to domestic 3-phase where they can, hence the retail companies having no use for 3-phase capable engineers.
We had a 3-phase 11kv to 440v step down transformer on a pole across the road, driving a 4-conductor local distribution down the road with every third house on the same phase. When the 11kv underground feeder dramatically caught fire, they not only replaced it, but also replaced the transformer with a single-phase one fed between 2 phases of the 11kv and used the secondary to feed all the houses from a single heavier gauge overhead pair. So now absolutely no chance of getting domestic 3-phase here!
I got a 3-phase supply to my house a few years ago. I was told by my previous electricity supplier that I would only need to give 4 weeks notice for the meter to be installed, when I phoned to book a date, they then told me they couldn't give me a date when they would be able to install a 3 phase meter.
When I subsequently contacted the DNO, expecting the whole thing to be delayed, they said they would go ahead and install the new 3 phase service as planned and reconnect my existing 1-phase meter. I then had to wait a few months for a 3-phase meter but at least it meant I was only without power for 2-3hrs.
The M300 videos brought me here but as others have said, I applaud your determination for sticking with this and getting 3-phase installed. It opens up so many options for you to buy more machinery, which I find is often a bit cheaper than single phase equivalents.
When you recalled the three 1B/C engineers arriving at once I laughed out loud. You deserve an award for patience for sure. Glad to hear you got it all worked out.
What a mess, and I couldn't agree more about the over-fragmentation of the industry is clearly broken. But... Fantastic news that you got it all installed okay in the end! Well done!
Top marks for perseverance. I investigated the time/cost of 3 phase but was put off luckily. My workshop and lathe / mill etc are run from Mitsubishi inverters. Looking forward to seeing more videos of the Harrison lathe in future.
Part 1 and part 2 of your saga were incredibly interesting and, perversely, quite enjoyable. Your patience and perseverance were rewarded in the end. Well done 👏👏👍😀
Really interesting video - Glad that you got sorted in the end though! I’m having a new-build house built at the moment and have requested a 3phase install (they have obliged for £1200 which I thought was reasonable) - That being said they have fitted a standard recessed meter box so now I’m worried that it will be a tight squeeze, if that happens to be the case and they have a struggle fitting it all in, I’ll request they install the incomer & Meter in the garage (regs permitting) and then take a single phase to the meter cab on the house to be terminated into a 2 pole isolator (to then go into the consumer unit) - in this day and age with electric cars / AirSoruce heat pumps and the such - 3 phase should be the norm in all homes (at least to the meter cab for future proofing.
Wow, what a journey! both parts of this I found interesting and fascinating, can't wait to see more progress on the lathe now!, cheers, Dave
I'm glad it finally came together and I like the generator provision. I can't remember if I mentioned but in Germany it's normal to have three phase at home. The cooker and shower are usually three phase. I remember having a nightmare trying to connect an induction hob in without having a notion which phase was which.
Totally agree about the power stations too.
Yes, somebody said there is domestic 3-phase in Sweden too. SSEN wasn't interested in what phase my bungalow was on, so I assume they didn't think it waould make much difference to the load balance on the transformer.
Thanks for completing the story, a fascinating account. As others have said your perseverance is commendable. How on Earth do business that require 3 phase manage, or does making the request as a business make all the difference. If so could you have defined yourself as a business?
In addition to your emergency generator do you ever plane to fit solar panels?
The same delays have ruined the livelihoods of many small businesses in the UK. Imagine a chipshop owner moving premises to an address with only single-phase supply, and unexpectedly finding they are unable to trade for many months. The supply companies concerned should, of course, have established channels of communication and co-ordination with each other. But they haven't, because they're not accountable.
Just watched your 2 videos about the "saga" to get 3 phase supply to your home (and workshop). I live in Portugal, so in some ways we have a little less bureaucracy dealing with the distribution company (only one for the country). On the other hand if I was to upgrade a rural supply to 3 phase, I would pay a lot more than you paid to get 63 Amps, even more If they have to upgrade the power transformer ( I have to subsidize for that). Then as soon as I sign a new contract to get electricity I would pay a monthly fee for the power I need. At least most houses and apartments already have option for 3 phase supply, but normally the maximum available is 6.9 or 10,35 kVA for domestic clients. If you want more you also need all your electrical installation inspected again by a company accredited to do it (not your electrician). Anyway I feel your pain. Regards
Maybe they'll train us to install our own meters from now on for free. After all, we're checkout assistants, petrol pump attendants & we can use a machine to post our own parcels!!! While we're at it, we'll be paying benefits for the poor people that can't get another job!!!!
Hi Samuel, some great detail in here, thank you. In the case of meters, my own experience is limited to getting an Economy 7 meter installed. We had three missed appointments over many weeks and each time the energy retailer paid us £125 compensation, and that all gets added to the bills in the end. Apparently they needed a specifically trained engineer - frankly I can't see why because it was a simple box swap. But clearly there was no link between the booking system and the actual availability of engineers. Now talking about electricians taking the easier jobs, I had one case where I had an earth leakage fault tripping the RCCD in the house and three electricians refused the job. I had another case where I needed an unusual installation and it became clear that at least one electrician was operating by convention and not by design. I accepted his quote but when we got close to the job he pulled out. Luckily, I found an NICEIC registered electrician who was happy with a bit design work (not much more than ohms law really) and he was content to take the job. You can see why some elections go for the easier jobs, it's just human nature, but also it highlights that we probably don't properly understand the practical landscape or marketplace for electricians. We need to find the right electrician - qualifications, appetite, mindset etc. I have a friend who is a fibreglass roofer and he will not quote for any job that has the slightest complication because he can fill his day with simple zero risk jobs 7 days a week. I'll just finish by saying I had a SMETS2 smart meter installed a couple of years ago and the installer handed me the 'very dumb' in home display and muttered something about signal and left. So two years on we still have a dumb smart meter, and he knew before he arrived that it would not get the WAN signal - but I'm sure he got paid for the job. (In the North the 2nd generation smart meter WAN is not on the mobile network but on a special private network owned and operated by Arqiva - the same people who provide TV transmitters.) Cheers
Hi, Good to hear from you. I follow your channel. My own electrician, having watched my videos, assured me he certainly would NOT take on project managing this kind of work, and I don't blame him.
@@samuelfielder Ah then I'm honoured if you watch my stuff Samuel. I've just been watching your videos on the Gamet bearings etc. I love the detail of it. It's interesting to compare your 300 with my older 140. You may know that I added an oil feed to several bearings in my headstock. I found on the lower gear range no oil was getting to the bearings (because no oil was getting onto the shelf). Cheers
@@HaxbyShed Yes, I saw your video on that. May do something similar myself.
The only reason you could get 3 phase is because it was available outside your house. If it was 50 m further up the road it would have been virtually impossible (of course with enough money you can have power anywhere!). Very jealous of your 3 phase service!
You have more patience than me my friend, VFD would have served you better on many levels sir
Where did you source the supply changeover switch? I have been using a generator to run the house whenever we have a (frequent) outage ever since the 1987 storm when we were off for 3 weeks. I just switch off the supply from the street on the consumer unit, and plug in the generator into any socket, typically in the garage, and it feeds back through the consumer unit into the ring mains. This is a suboptimal solution for emergency use only as it bypasses the RCD and relies on you doing things in the right order!
That extension lead with a plug at both ends is called a 'widow maker' in the trade.
With the world being forced down the electric car route and most cars coming from German manufacturers (majority of households there having 3 phase) you would think they'd be only too glad to run 3 phase to any household that requests it. As far as I'm aware they split the 3 phase most of the time one phase down one street and two down another. Barmy
Hi, I haven't read all of the comments but I'm sure it's been asked, why didn't you use a VFD or a phase converter?
It seemed a very expensive route that you chose, I'm not complaining just curious.
Thanks for your videos.
I did explain this at the start of part 1. I just felt like getting three phase.