On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 02:15:44PM -0500, David Wright wrote:
On Tue 30 Jul 2019 at 08:49:43 (-0400), Michael Stone wrote:On Mon, Jul 29, 2019 at 08:46:36PM -0500, David Wright wrote: > On Mon 29 Jul 2019 at 18:00:25 (-0400), Gene Heskett wrote: > > On Monday 29 July 2019 17:26:17 ghe wrote: > > > On 7/29/19 1:57 PM, David Wright wrote: > > > > Irrelevant in a domestic setting: it's illegal to have more than one > > > > phase in an ordinary house. > > > > > > FYI, and significantly OT: > > > > > > I don't think that's true in the US. > > IIRC Joe's in the UK. 3-phase there is lethal. 1 is bad enough. Domestic 3 phase is common in much of the world, including (specifically) the UK. There's nothing illegal about it, it's just prohibitively expensive if (as in most of the US) 3 phase isn't already provisioned. (E.g., in my area many people would need to eat the cost of more than a quarter mile of new poles and wires if they wanted 3 phase, and there's basically zero advantage unless you're trying to run industrial electric motors in your house for some reason.)
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Perhaps someone living in the UK who actually has more than one phase in use in their home could give some details of how it's dealt with.In Europe they do commonly have 3 phase supplies
I did a cursory check and found UK manufacturers of things like 3 phase domestic stoves and assumed they were used in the UK. It seems that they're for use elsewhere in EU, so I'll withdraw that 3 phase is common in UK.
but I think that's partly because they have lower current ratings on the phases. I can't speak for what their wiring regulations are like, but I suspect that only one phase is used for general wiring, with dedicated circuits to items like ranges. Even if you were to put different phases on different floors, you have the stairs to consider.
Why would having different phases on different circuits be a problem? It's pretty common IMO, because you want the load balanced between them. (Unless the concern is that the crazy UK circuit loops will get crosswired?) In general 3 phase is only used for dedicated equipment circuits, but that's because not many portable appliances need that much power.