3 Feb
1999
3 Feb
'99
10:18 p.m.
My parents have
3-phase electricity at home, but I don't (yet). But I
think it's more common in the UK than in the US. (BTW my parents have a
16th century farmhouse which they heat electrically during the winter.
Maximum load we've measured, 36kW.)
36kW!! Ouch! And cost of electricity is, I understand, higher than in the
US, true? Except Jamestown, we pay only $0.03565 per KWH :-) so heat is not such a financial killer for homeowners (or
for nuts like me
with working big iron computers in the basement).
Dual tarriff (?sp) is quite common. The most usual scheme is called
"economy 7" which charges about 14c US per kWh during the day and somewhat
less (I think it's less than 5c - sorry, I am not in the UK this week so I
can't check) for a seven-hour period starting at midnight +/- one hour
(exactly midnight on older installations). Some circuits - mainly heating
- are controlled by the same timeswitch (older installations) or radio
receiver (newer ones) as the tarriff selector on the meter.
It is said that many night clubs use economy 7 tarriff despite no heating
load...
Other schemes exist. One called "heatwise" also gives you a couple of
short periods of cheap power during the day...
Yes, very few private residences in North America have
3 ph power
_unless_
it was asked for and installed, of course at an extra
co$t. If someone
has
a garage or machine shop at home (and the local zoning
laws permit it)
then
3 ph can be installed. Otherwise, bigger apartment
buildings, larger
offices and factory buildings are usually wired for 3 ph at 240 volts or
480 volts.
Gosh. I've seen 3-phase 208 volts in the US, but what would they use 240
for?
Philip.
4 Feb
4 Feb
3:06 a.m.
Upon the date 10:18 AM 2/4/99 +0100, Philip.Belben(a)pgen.com said something
like:
In this electrical district the residential rate is the $0.03565 24/7. The
Jamestown Board of Public Utilities generates some of the power (coal-fired
steam) while the rest is hydropower bought from the Niagara Power Project
up near the Falls. We pay them, IIRC, around $0.025 per KWH. BPU is a
publicly owned, not-for-profit utility (taxpayers technically own it.) At
summertime peak the BPU distributes approx 80 MW.
OTOH, the two districts outside of BPU average $0.08 or $0.09 per KWH. They
are private, for-profit utilities.
Excuse the brain glitch Phil. I meant 208V 3ph. Normally 240V 1ph, center
grounded, is wired to residential and small office users.
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/
36kW!! Ouch! And cost of electricity is, I understand, higher than in the
US, true? Except Jamestown, we pay only $0.03565 per KWH :-) so
electric
heat is not such a financial killer for
homeowners (or for nuts like me
with working big iron computers in the basement).
Dual tarriff (?sp) is quite common. The most usual scheme is called
"economy 7" which charges about 14c US per kWh during the day and somewhat
less (I think it's less than 5c - sorry, I am not in the UK this week so I
can't check) for a seven-hour period starting at midnight +/- one hour
(exactly midnight on older installations). Some circuits - mainly heating
- are controlled by the same timeswitch (older installations) or radio
receiver (newer ones) as the tarriff selector on the meter.
It is said that many night clubs use economy 7 tarriff despite no heating
load...
Other schemes exist. One called "heatwise" also gives you a couple of
short periods of cheap power during the day...
Many other electrical districts around the US have dual tariff fees. Seems
to be as many variations as there are separate utility companies :)
Yes, very few private residences in North America
have 3 ph power
_unless_
it was asked for and installed, of course at an
extra co$t. If someone
has
a garage or machine shop at home (and the local
zoning laws permit it)
then
3 ph can be installed. Otherwise, bigger
apartment buildings, larger
offices and factory buildings are usually wired for 3 ph at 240 volts or
480 volts.
Gosh. I've seen 3-phase 208 volts in the US, but what would they use 240
for? 
8 a.m.
New subject: 3-phase
At 10:18 AM 2/4/99 +0100, Philip wrote:
I think 240 (meaning 220 to 240 volts) and 480 3 phase are for larger
services, i.e. motors. The 208
comes when you want 120 volts, and 3 phases of 120 volts connected in "Wye"
has 208 volts between the phases. With 480 volts 3 phase "Wye" between the
phases, one gets 277 volts from each phase to neutral. 277 Volt (single phase
of course) lights are seen in many industrial settings.
-Dave
Yes, very few private residences in North America
have 3 ph power
_unless_
it was asked for and installed, of course at an
extra co$t. If someone
has
a garage or machine shop at home (and the local
zoning laws permit it)
then
3 ph can be installed. Otherwise, bigger
apartment buildings, larger
offices and factory buildings are usually wired for 3 ph at 240 volts or
480 volts.
Gosh. I've seen 3-phase 208 volts in the US, but what would they use 240
for?
Philip.
9277
days inactive
9277
days old
2 comments
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