New electrical supply debacle

[flying haggis]

does it have to be a genuine "hockey stick" or could you fabricate one from 50mm pipe and a couple of 45 degree bends or heat and gently bend or even 68mm downpipe

or

https://drainfast.co.uk/54mm-hockey-stick-x12m-black-to-suit-54mm

 

[Lorenzl]

I did find a 50mm bend but hadn't thought about making one. The problem is if it isn't suitable I will be without power for another 30 days - Eon need 30 working days notice to connect the meter and will probably want a cancellation charge. UK Power networks would want a £1,000 rescheduling charge.

They are supplying the ducting and reading their documents if I supplied the ducting it had to be marked with Electricity. So if that is specified I don't feel like I want to take the risk but thanks for the suggestion @flying haggis

I had seen the 54mm hockey sticks; again thanks for the link.

 

[Housey210]

All sold off, private ownership, greed and no accountability, who would vote for that?

 

[Lorenzl]

I should say in my research I found that different power suppliers use different 38mm hockey sticks. UK Power 39mm, ssen 38mm and west 37mm.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Whilst I understand (or at least accept) the need for a 3 phase supply for industrial and large users, I don't understand the benefits of 3 phase supply for domestic property (bar a few woodworkers).

How much extra cost is there in providing a supply to each new build. If material it may be an investment that most properties neither need nor use.

Do future power needs require 3 phase. Can the current system (with capacity increases) cope with:

• higher electricity consumption as gas is phased out, often replaced by heat pumps
• EV charging in domestic property which does not need a 150KW fast charge - a 7KW will comfortably charge an EV from 0-100% overnight anyway
• reduced consumption through better housing design and insulation, roof PVs and more efficient appliances

 

[Lorenzl]

Found a hockey stick at SP Wales although very expensive.

 

[flying haggis]

how the h*ll can they justify that price??

 

[Lorenzl]

I know; the single phase ones are~ £10
Generally online the boxes are all around £300 as well, whereas the single phase ones are around £60! Theirs was around the £400 mark as well.

 

[woodieallen]

Solar is the way to go- my setup cost me $17500Au, 18kw (72x 250w ex gridtie panels) 12kw inverter, 6x 3kw solar controllers plus all the mounting bits etc- the grid connection was $42k Au, for a 8kw transformer out the front and a 500m run of poles down the driveway to the shed and house...
Generators are rare these days- fuel costs too much- diesel has dropped a bit, but at $2.40.9 a litre currently (down 30c)- you would need Bill Gates credit card to be able to run a house off one... View attachment 141986
Half a tank in the Hilux....

Solar is good.

But only if you can see the sun !

 

[woodieallen]

https://www.jmcaleer.com/Products/r...oilduct/RHS2/Red-Electrical-Hockey-Stick-50mm
Any good ?

 

[Lorenzl]

Thank you @woodieallen UK Power networks may have one I can buy @ ~£19 + Vat

 

[NormanB]

Actually, it works pretty much anywhere- we Aussies use it in Antarctica...
View attachment 142054
The UK does get less than Australia, but it still works - you just need more panels to compensate for the lower insolation (the UK gets about 2.5kwh/m^2 per day, while where I am I get about 5kwh/m^2 per day- however due to the heat, I get less in summer than you might think- PV panels are quite bad when it comes to handling heat- mine drop to about 80% of their expected output when the air temp is over 40C and the panel temps get over 80C (they lose about 0.4% of their output per 1C rise in the panel temperature)- just when I need the most power to run the aircon, I've lost nearly quarter of my output!!!

Wonder if it’s worth running a ‘cooling circuit‘ underneath the array to pick up the heat , cooling the panels and improving output and transfer the heat to DHW - WIN WIN

 

[Spectric]

When I had three phase fitted all I run was a duct from the meter to the edge of the pavement, the rest including digging up the pavement was down to the DNO.

Try these Hockey Stick for Meter Box Cabinet - Black - 50mm

 

[Dabop]

Solar is good.

But only if you can see the sun !

You would be surprised at just how little sunlight you need to get at least some power out of solar these days- One of my offgrid arrays that ran my caravan when I was still building my shed usually put out about 35A at midday on a sunny day, but would still deliver about 18-20A on a 'grey cloudy day' with showers and 100% overcast, and around 10A on a 'black clouds, heavy rain, headlights on' day

To give you an idea- that was taken at 8am, grey 100% overcast with showers (look just to the left of the tree in the center, down in the leaves- see the 'bright dot' to the left of it?- thats the sun...) and already at 4.4A
Or lets try literally at dawn- not all the suns disk yet visible and no direct sunlight at all (look top left and you can see the sun lighting up the tree tops)- and the array voltage is already at 52v (usually runs about 90v) and half an amp going into the battery bank...

A 'oldfashioned' PWM system would be a garden decoration under those conditions, but a modern 'high voltage' series array with a MPPT will literally sniff out the smallest amount of light and try and use it...
If your location has a lot of weather like that, you can compensate by overpowering your array so that even in the worst conditions, you get enough to cover your needs, and on good days- you have a large excess
Of course for a gridtie thats less important- you can always fall back on the grid, but in my case its make it or don't have it....

 

[Dabop]

Wonder if it’s worth running a ‘cooling circuit‘ underneath the array to pick up the heat , cooling the panels and improving output and transfer the heat to DHW - WIN WIN

At least here in Australia, its not really worth the bother, just oversize the array to compensate (I bought 18kw of ex gridtie panels for under $2000 Au) but yes, some people do do it- but its not really that cheap- they put aluminium or copper plates behind the back of the panel, resting against the backing material- then clamp copper waterpipes to it to make a system to transfer away the heat- expensive and a lot of work

 

[Lorenzl]

When I had three phase fitted all I run was a duct from the meter to the edge of the pavement, the rest including digging up the pavement was down to the DNO.

Yes I need to dig a trench from the meter box to 1m from the pole. I just realised last night it will have to go over/under the sewer and mains water pipes. This will be about 6m long by 0.5m deep

 

[Spectric]

Sounds like you have a TT electrical supply if it is coming from a pole, get yourself a decent heavy earthing electrode.

 

[Lorenzl]

Yes it is off a pole and thank you for the tip about an earthing electrode @Spectric

Just been over today with BT and the ducting and tape - wide piece of felt looking material has been delivered.

Supposed to have exchanged on Friday but didn't. Going to exchange today but our buyers solicitor is not answering the phone. Vans loaded this morning ready for tomorrow!!

I can't stress enough DON'T USE ONLINE CONVAYENCING. We were supposed to move on the 22 August but our buyers were still receiving forms to fill in last week. On Friday they found one of the names on the mortgage application was spelt wrong.

 

[woodieallen]

.....

I can't stress enough DON'T USE ONLINE CONVAYENCING. ....

You get what you pay for. Here endeth the lesson.

 

[Spectric]

I used omline conveyancing and saved a mint, but it was a straightforward chain.