neighbours dodgy welder

[JimK]

more of a wannabe Fred Dibnah type who never finishes anything...

[Tim]

B*gger. I've always fancied making one of those. Is there any way of screening them? An appropriately specced faraday cage of some sort or do you just need to not have any neighbours - for miles?

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes. Chances are they will take on look at the substation and say 'Oh my gawd, I didn't know there WERE any of those left' and upgrade it.

Mine was circa 1947, and presumably originally designed to run a few lights and a hoover.

[Colin Wilson]

Complain to the supplier - per the other reply, they can install a voltage recorder, but they can also send a nasty letter to the neighbour using the welding kit.

If he continues to use it after the letter, they can disconnect him altogether, unless he gets his line upgraded to something more suitable.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oh, its actually not his problem. He's entitled to use whatever he likes up to the rating of the supply.

It's the distribution people - National Grid - who have a regulatory responsibility to maintain supply voltages under load within limits.

When I had my dealings with them, the general impression was 'we don't pro-actively replace circuits, but if we have a problem, we have a budget to replace anything that is below spec and which people bring to our attention'. I.e. if you complain, they will accept the problem, and, if there is budget, it goes on the list of 'things to do'.

Like with BT and its phone wires, if there is a definite issue, they will fix.

[geoff]

In message , Colin Wilson writes

Why?

He is entitled to use the electricity as and how he wants to

There's obviously some problem with the supply - that's the responsibility of the electricity supplier

[James Salisbury]

National Grid???????? As the OP is only connected at 230V single phase then it is the DNO he needs to complain to. If he was connected at 132KV

3phase or above then a phone call to St Catherines Lodge may have been in order!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Muy Bad..;-)

I never know who runs which bit these days..

[Dave Liquorice]

impedance

Supply fault. ISTR that you mention the lights on your place going dime when you put the kettle on. That shouldn't happen. Call the regional supply people and get them to investigate.

[JimK]

yes that's right they (kitchen lights 12v MR11 dwonlighters) dim slightly when the kettle is on, also there's a "dip" when the 3bar

800w water booster pump kicks in. (plus the neighbour's welder - that really gets things flickering)

So when I ring em what's my best approach - just say what's happening and see what response is? what if they try and fob me - is there any e.g. phrase I can use or e.g."standard" I can ask about to encourage them to take me seriously?

If they are being serious what *should* they do in first instance - come and inspect/measure? (can't gtee neighbour will be welding! or should I actively explain and encourage neighbour to "demonstrate"??)

Thanks to all Cheers JimK

[Tim W]

JimK wibbled on Thursday 03 December 2009 11:00

I would say that you appear to be experiencing excessive voltage fluctuations under load, observed by excessive dimming of the lights or something like that. They don't expect you to be an engineer - just be clear and direct with your concerns. If you can't give them numbers (eg stick a voltmeter in the socket) they should be willing to put a datalogger on your supply for you for a few days.

If your neighbour is cooperative, ask him if he's willing to do a demo when they come. Or lend you his welder (think of the fun you could have :)

Do you get the same effect if you stick a *couple* of 3kW fan heaters on? In which case you could do the demo (allowing for the fact his 3kW/whatever welder is probably drawing surges in excess of 13A)?

The worst that can happen AFAICS is that they say the supply is fluctuating but is just within limits (which are quite wide as someone else mentioned). Shouldn't be a downside to calling them out. It's in their interests to come and check as they may have a bad joint which could cost more to fix if it does fail badly. Or you may have a good case for an upgrade and as already mentioned, they are not always very good at being proactive but may be more than helpful if they do see an issue.

Good luck

Tim

[Dave Liquorice]

I find that the people answering the faults/loss of power telephone number for us (Norweb) are pretty clued up on things and are not just "customer service" script jockies. They have access to the computer system that logs the faults, access to the engineers out fixng things and I suspect they also have access to information about the network topography so they know we are on a single phase spur with our own transformer etc.

I'd call and explain that the lights dim when your put your kettle on and that you get other flickering/diming when the load of you neighbour changes. If possible a demostration of your local effects and that of you neighbour as well would be useful.

[Colin Wilson]

It all depends on what the size of his supply is - he may have a declared supply capacity which would come into play, or the welding equipment might sufficient effect on the network as to cause issues for the neighbour as is happening here.

It's like if you want to run a motor, you don't go by the running current, you have to work off the starting current - and even then you might have a frequency of starting restriction.

[JimK]

out of interest what is/was the procedure/costs for "undergrounding"?

ta JimK

[peter richards]

Call in you local supplyer of you electricity, they will go into all the regulations for you and deal with the matter [could cut him off!!!]. book a dinner the flikering lights could be romantic.

w

url:

[Tabby]

Hopefully this was resolved a year or so ago!