Converting 3-phase to single phase with resilience

Caecilius · 2017-01-20T18:33:10+00:00

I suspect this isn't possible, but I thought I'd ask just in case... I've got a large office with a 3-phase electrical supply. But I don't have any 3-phase equipment; I split the 3 phases to 3 x single phase sub-mains feeding CUs on each floor. The original building has a 3x60A supply, but that was upgraded to a 3x100A supply about five years ago. I don't think our total draw ever exceeds 100A, so in theory we could operate from just one of the phases. We have regular power outages, all of which are acknowledged by UK power networks and normally involve some sort of problem at a substation. But strangely they don't always affect all three phases. Hence my question: Is there a way to convert a three-phase supply to some sort of redundant single-phase supply? I wouldn't want something that involves power-loss, as the 3-phase supply comes into the basement and I don't have any easy way of getting rid of heat from there; but even some sort of "throw the switch Igor" switchover solution would be better than I've got at the moment when I end up losing a random floor (and typically the CH boiler as well, which means we need to close the office when it gets too cold).

Jan 20, 2017 24 Replies

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Nightjar 9 years ago

How? These are independent single pole changeover contactors, with the common of one contactor connected to only one CU. One contactor closing does not create a connection to the output of any other.

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charles 9 years ago

I was brought up on Castek Keys

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Harry Bloomfield 9 years ago

charles brought next idea :

As was I.

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ARW 9 years ago

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ARW 9 years ago

Do short power outages cause trouble for your PCs etc or are you using UPS?

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