Any idea of cost involved in getting 3 phase supply to a garage assuming all the prep work for putting a cable in had been done?
Garage is down the side of house which is your average semi down your average street.

Is there an extra standing charge once it's in or do you just pay for what you've used?

You'll be looking at £200+.Now days the Electric board charge big bucks.The standing charge is heavy as well.If theres any digging to be done across 3rd party land.They have to do it.That said I have found them open to hagggling in the past.If you labour on etc.

How far is the nearest 3 phase supply?

Think you'll be very lucky to get them to supply 3 phase to a domestic property IMHO.

Arent all the phases there anyway, alternate ones are routed to each house arent they?

I know of a few people with 3phase at home, cost varies widely though.

David

Hi, Our three phase supply was £4000.00 + vat, to our gate post all work on our property was carried out by ourselves.
Our quartley bill is in the region of £400.00 to £500.00
regards martin

My parents have just moved into a new house. It's got a 150% size garage with three phase electric... Just asking for the full workshop setup.... My bro and are crying in our sleep. They're turning it into a 2nd living room!!!!!

Depending on what you want to run, have you looked at phase convertors.

Do a google search, it'll bring all sorts up.

May or may not work out cheaper - depending on your requirements.

But you can take it with you if you move, or flog it if you don't need it anymore

Yeah I did think of the converter route & it looks like it'll be the cheaper option. I'm thinking of getting a lathe & a lot of them on ebay are 3 phase hence the enquiry.

Hi,
We were looking into 3 phase after buying a Harrison lathe.
If you want 3 phase to your house, its just a case of how close you are to the 3pahse main -how lucky do you feel. Still likely to be in the high 000's if not 0000's.

1phs>3phs converters are good, but are not ideal for largish power demands.

We found our solution in a 3phase 10Hp diesel generator. It'll pump out 7Kw'ish of 415V 3 phase and 240V, and even 12v DC, electric start too.

some nice examples here;
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/WHOLESALES-DIRECT-UK

I would recommend the silent enclosed types, ours isn't and (although not hugely loud) wish it were. -always can build sides on the frame..

We paid around £480inc vat from ebay. with 12months waranty.
from here (via ebay sorry cant find their shop) http://www.directequipmentsales.co.uk/

hope this helps you decide..

It's not cheap! I fit the meters for BG, and it is possible in a domestic house, as all 3 phases are currently in the road outside you're house! As Flak said, the phases are used to feed alternate house or groups of houses down the street. That's why you sometimes get power cuts in ever 3rd house down the street, or odd groups of houses. It's just one phase going down.

quote:

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Originally posted by BenB
My parents have just moved into a new house. It's got a 150% size garage with three phase electric... Just asking for the full workshop setup.... My bro and are crying in our sleep. They're turning it into a 2nd living room!!!!!

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£20 worth of oil filled capacitors from Fleabay gets all my three phase motors running.

The big motor just needs a few more farads to start, so thought about an idler motor but lost interest as it all works okay.

The only issue is easier to stall lathe/drill so just go a little slower. 85% of power.

Not worth paying for three phase IMHO for home use.

Regards Mark

my friend recently paid £5k, due to the length of the trench they dug - about 150metres! That was unfortuantely necessary as it was to power a group of flats.

Converters/inverters are deffo the way forward IMHO

Be careful of inverters if you want to run a welder though.

An inverter will run motors happily, but when it comes to welders, you have to massively overspec the inverter capacity, and has to run with a pilot motor.

I use a 10hp motor wound as a motor/generator in one. Just runs the 200amp welder on about 1/2 power.

Cheers,
Syd.

We just bought a 3 phase convertor for a mill in our shop. It was about $50.00US and we have had no problems at all. It says you loose some HPO when using them, but we haven't noticed any differences.

You have to be careful when comparing US converters with those from the UK - the electricity supply is arranged differently. To be precise, I believe that US houses are supplied with two 110v phases, giving 220v for higher-power equipment. In the UK houses get one 230v phase.

Having access to 2 phases makes the generation of the 3rd phase very easy and cheap - it's a lot harder and more expensive from 1 phase.

Note: this is my understanding of the situation - your reality may differ!

David