joining two feeds into one consumer unit.

[jouleflow]

I have two 40A swa cables from my main house consumer unit. This consumer unit serves the whole house and the two swa cables serve two consumer units in an extension. One is upstairs and has very little demand and one is downstairs with a higher demand.
My question is:
Can I add the upstairs swa into the downstairs consumer unit allowing more demand and an appropriate t+e cable back to feed the upstairs cu.
Basically I want to join the two feeds together either in the downstairs cu or another way.

This will be done by a qualified sparky but I just want to know if it is feasable before I hire him.

Thanks

Greg

 

[jouleflow]

Seperate consumer units then.

 

[James]

Or a 3 phase consumer unit

 

[timhoward]

Your electrician would be better buying the equipment. Then he is responsible for. He will also probably not offer any warranty on items you have bought yourself.

He can also likely obtain it considerably cheaper than the OP can.

 

[jouleflow]

Or a 3 phase consumer unit

Good idea, I can just use two phases and somewhere for the third to be terminated.

 

[westward10]

You clearly have no understanding of a triple-pole (three phase) distribution board and the requirements for its supply. It maybe possible to utilise the existing cables but they need to terminated in an appropriate manner and not something you should consider doing yourself it is way beyond your scope of ability. You say you have an electrician so I suggest get them involved to assess what you have and how best to proceed.

 

[jouleflow]

You clearly have no understanding of a triple-pole (three phase) distribution board and the requirements for its supply. It maybe possible to utilise the existing cables but they need to terminated in an appropriate manner and not something you should consider doing yourself it is way beyond your scope of ability. You say you have an electrician so I suggest get them involved to assess what you have and how best to proceed.

Just had meeting with Electrician and all is well. Thanks for all your input.

 

[DPG]

Just had meeting with Electrician and all is well. Thanks for all your input.

Let us know what his plan is.

 

[jouleflow]

The dno will feed into a new meter box in the garage, this will feed a 3 phase distribution board.
From this:
Phase 1 will be connected to the house cu via existing swa.
Phase 2 will be connected to the existing garage cu.
A 25mm swa will feed the new workshop distribution board that will feed all the switched 3 phase plug sockets via 3x3 galvanized trunking and a ring main + lighting on phase 3.

My existing solar inverters will remain connected connect to phase 1 via existing swa to house cu.

I believe that I may be able to retain my house meter for reference so I can allocate the electricity cost proportionally between business and private.

One thing that may help me for neatness ( and yet to be discussed with electrician ). I would like to fix my metal clad sockets to the galvanized trunking and feed them from the back of the socket. I'd also like to do this with the 16A + 32A switched 3 phase sockets, I suspect they will be too big though. Any tips welcome.

Thanks

Greg.

 

[Electro-tech]

Wait and see what your electrician intends to do, you are giving the impression that you are doing it yourself, so at least please do not fit all your accessories to the trunking lid.

 

[DPG]

The dno will feed into a new meter box in the garage, this will feed a 3 phase distribution board.
From this:
Phase 1 will be connected to the house cu via existing swa.
Phase 2 will be connected to the existing garage cu.
A 25mm swa will feed the new workshop distribution board that will feed all the switched 3 phase plug sockets via 3x3 galvanized trunking and a ring main + lighting on phase 3.

My existing solar inverters will remain connected connect to phase 1 via existing swa to house cu.

I believe that I may be able to retain my house meter for reference so I can allocate the electricity cost proportionally between business and private.

One thing that may help me for neatness ( and yet to be discussed with electrician ). I would like to fix my metal clad sockets to the galvanized trunking and feed them from the back of the socket. I'd also like to do this with the 16A + 32A switched 3 phase sockets, I suspect they will be too big though. Any tips welcome.

Thanks

Greg.

Sounds like your electrician has the info he needs and can plan the install then. Dont worry about the fitting of sockets, he'll know how to do that.

 

[jouleflow]

I am only putting up the trunking around the perimeter of the workshop. There are loads of options where to put it as the roof trusses are exposed and make a great network of supports. If the sockets can go on the back or side it will be a neat job. He'll tell me tomorrow at the site visit the best option.

 

[Electro-tech]

Fix it to the wall perimeter for ease of installing circuits & future maintenance & access. You wouldn't want to be working on steps or ladders if can be avoided.

 

[jouleflow]

Fix it to the wall perimeter for ease of installing circuits & future maintenance & access. You wouldn't want to be working on steps or ladders if can be avoided.

Would it be ok below the windows? There is no room above the windows, they go to the top of the walls. I'm worried about splashing coolant onto the trunking.

 

[Electro-tech]

Now you are adding other issues as to the IP rating of Trunking which you will need to ask the manufacturer as not all may comply with Standards. At least IPX4 , now you are talking coolant, is this corrosive?

 

[jouleflow]

Now you are adding other issues as to the IP rating of Trunking which you will need to ask the manufacturer as not all may comply with Standards. At least IPX4 , now you are talking coolant, is this corrosive?

I thought higher would be better as the trunking at my factory is at least 10 feet high it does not get splashed. If I fixed it to the top of the perimeter wall it would go over the windows but I suppose it will be ok.

 

[Electro-tech]

Why not , at least you will have somewhere to hang your curtains on !

 

[jouleflow]

Why not , at least you will have somewhere to hang your curtains on !

What rating curtain wire should I get?

 

[jouleflow]

DNO site visit tomorrow.

 

[Electro-tech]

DNO site visit tomorrow.

I can't wait. We are all prepared!

 

[jouleflow]

Good morning.

The dno can install the 3 phase meter box directly ouside the wall of my current meter which means that they can connect 1 phase directly through an existing hole in the wall and sort out the meter etc.. I'm very happy about this, nice and simple and neat.

For the rest of the property the Electrician has asked me to run a 16mm 3 phase swa for him to connect up.

The first run will be about 15 metres from the new meter box to a 16 way 3 phase distribution board, replacing the existing cu. This will service an existing large garage/workshop, pool heater system and a flat + family room ( man cave ) both above.

The second run will also be 16mm 3 phase swa for about 25 metres. This will run from the new distribution board to another 16 way board in the new workshop.

My question is.

From the new meter cabinet to the new distribution board ( the first run ) I will have 2 redundant 16mm single phase cables that are buried and run exactly the same as the 3 phase cable I have to install. These two swa cables are plenty long enough to connect from the new cabinet to the new distribution board.

You can guess the question - can I use one existing swa for 3 phases and the other for the earth and neutral.

 

[James]

You can’t split the phases to one cable and the N to the other cable.
again, you could have a situation where eddy currents heat the cable.
sureley the spark has given you a specification for the cable run?
I would discuss this with them.

 

[DPG]

I'd be getting an electrician in personally.

 

[westward10]

How many times do you have to be told. Do you really have an electrician involved.

 

[jouleflow]

How many times do you have to be told. Do you really have an electrician involved.

Yes I do, I thought it might be a good place to ask here while I was online.
No need to be rude, if you don't want to advise others politely then perhaps a forum is not the place to spend your time.

 

[DPG]

Yes I do, I thought it might be a good place to ask here while I was online.
No need to be rude, if you don't want to advise others politely then perhaps a forum is not the place to spend your time.

Westward regularly advises people on here and is very knowledgeable and respected.

There is no point you keeping asking questions when it is obvious you are well beyond your limits with this one.

 

[jouleflow]

Westward regularly advises people on here and is very knowledgeable and respected.

There is no point you keeping asking questions when it is obvious you are well beyond your limits with this one.

No problem, I've clearly misunderstood the forum guidelines and apologize for that. I did not realize that the forum was only for qualified electricians. I'm just too curious. My solar installer put a chock block in a 100A isolator that would have burned my house down had my wife not spotted the smoke coming from the switch. So I like to know a little about my system to keep safe when an electrician is not here.