Uprating electric supply

robatwork

Has anyone had any experience in having their electric supply upgraded to a higher current rating?

I have been advised to update to 100A. From some checking I think this means the electric company upgrading the fuse to 100A but any further advice would be welcomed before I contact them.

thanks

dil1976

Yes you have to apply to the distributor in your local area.

http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/AboutElectricity/DistributionCompanies/

That map will show you who yours is. They may need to do extensive works, such as dig up the road and install a new cable. Can I ask why do you need a bigger supply?

yangptangkipperbang

dil1976 wrote: »

Can I ask why do you need a bigger supply?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wldmmVZCQ8w&feature=related

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

jc808

dil1976 wrote: »

Can I ask why do you need a bigger supply?

robatwork

If only! A sadly boring answer that my sparks has to move my consumer unit and has advised uprating from 60 to 100.

dil1976

What sort of appliances do you have in your house?

Unless you have several electric ovens, showers, water heaters, or other high current drawing items, it is highly unlikely you will need more than 60 amps.

DVardysShadow

robatwork wrote: »

If only! A sadly boring answer that my sparks has to move my consumer unit and has advised uprating from 60 to 100.

If you have a 45A shower supply, there is not much fuse discrimination - if your shower circuit goes faulty, it can take out its own fuse and the company fuse fairly easily. And if you have too many circuits, it will be very easy to blow the company fuse without overloading any of your individual circuits.

If your incoming cable will take it, and upgraded fuse is the way to go. But if your supplier inspects they may decided that you need a new incoming main.

dil1976

Also what works are you having done. if nothing major and your house has been fine for as long as it has been standing it really won't be necessary.

dil1976

DVardysShadow wrote: »

If you have a 45A shower supply, there is not much fuse discrimination - if your shower circuit goes faulty, it can take out its own fuse and the company fuse fairly easily. And if you have too many circuits, it will be very easy to blow the company fuse without overloading any of your individual circuits.

If your incoming cable will take it, and upgraded fuse is the way to go. But if your supplier inspects they may decided that you need a new incoming main.

A 60 amp fuse BS 1361 type 2 fuse would quite easily take 80 amps for a reasonable amount of time.

DVardysShadow

dil1976 wrote: »

A 60 amp fuse BS 1361 type 2 fuse would quite easily take 80 amps for a reasonable amount of time.

So what? A 45 Amp circuit can easily pass 450 Amp under fault conditions. A 45A BS1361 fuse will blow in just over 0.2s giving an I^2t of about 40,500 A^2s.

The pre-arc I^2t of a 60A BS1361 fuse is 9100 A^2s, which is certain to blow too. A 100A BS1361 fuse has a pre-arc i^2t of 43,500 A^2s, which is just adequate to discriminate.

dil1976

DVardysShadow wrote: »

So what? A 45 Amp circuit can easily pass 450 Amp under fault conditions. A 45A BS1361 fuse will blow in just over 0.2s giving an I^2t of about 40,500 A^2s.

The pre-arc I^2t of a 60A BS1361 fuse is 9100 A^2s, which is certain to blow too. A 100A BS1361 fuse has a pre-arc i^2t of 43,500 A^2s, which is just adequate to discriminate.

And the relevance to the OPs question is?