Will Three phase electricity solve my low voltage problem?

[The Day Dreamer]

So I am on Single phase electricity connection, have too many voltage fluctuation problem, thanks to consumers consuming more electricity than the allotted to them(its like this here in some parts of my country).

Will switching to THREE PHASE connection will solve voltage fluctuation problem?

 

[skyking]

Probably not. Unless your problems are due to YOUR particular transformer being overloaded, then it is the primary circuits that are actually fluctuating. If the primaries are fluctuating then 3 phase will too.
This is totally aside from the fact that the single leg of three phase is usually lower voltage than a single leg of single phase, and you could not use any appliances that would use both legs of single phase. In the US, for example we use 2 legs of the single phase for 240V large appliances such as the furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer.
You can't do that on a 3 phase service. You can only use the single leg to neutral.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

Probably not. Unless your problems are due to YOUR particular transformer being overloaded, then it is the primary circuits that are actually fluctuating. If the primaries are fluctuating then 3 phase will too.
This is totally aside from the fact that the single leg of three phase is usually lower voltage than a single leg of single phase, and you could not use any appliances that would use both legs of single phase. In the US, for example we use 2 legs of the single phase for 240V large appliances such as the furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer.
You can't do that on a 3 phase service. You can only use the single leg to neutral.

Voltage problem for everyone. Transformer blows up sometimes

 

[boomerang]

All the cool kids have moved on to four phase. Just skip the three phase.

 

[mmntech]

Sounds like the electric company needs to upgrade their transformer if it's not providing enough power to the neighbourhood. Not sure what country you live in, so that may be easier said than done. Still might be worth telling them about it.

 

[DrPizza]

Probably not. Unless your problems are due to YOUR particular transformer being overloaded, then it is the primary circuits that are actually fluctuating. If the primaries are fluctuating then 3 phase will too.
This is totally aside from the fact that the single leg of three phase is usually lower voltage than a single leg of single phase, and you could not use any appliances that would use both legs of single phase. In the US, for example we use 2 legs of the single phase for 240V large appliances such as the furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer.
You can't do that on a 3 phase service. You can only use the single leg to neutral.

I'm guessing that the 240V (or whatever voltage it is in his country across hots) won't apply, since he's on single phase. I'm guessing the OP lives in an apartment building? It's possible that three phase is distributed to his apartment building and the load isn't well balanced. Thus, one of the other legs may have a more consistent voltage. If he got 3 phase, and monitored the voltage of each of the phases, then perhaps one would more consistently maintain the voltage it's supposed to maintain; and he could run off that line. But, that's a complete crapshoot, and speculation. It's just as likely that he'd be spending more money and not getting any benefit other than knowing that all of his neighbors are suffering just as much from poor infrastructure.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

Sounds like the electric company needs to upgrade their transformer if it's not providing enough power to the neighbourhood. Not sure what country you live in, so that may be easier said than done. Still might be worth telling them about it.

I live in India. Upto THREE phase available for housing in our city.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

All the cool kids have moved on to four phase. Just skip the three phase.

Not an option here. :|

 

[The Day Dreamer]

I'm guessing that the 240V (or whatever voltage it is in his country across hots) won't apply, since he's on single phase. I'm guessing the OP lives in an apartment building? It's possible that three phase is distributed to his apartment building and the load isn't well balanced. Thus, one of the other legs may have a more consistent voltage. If he got 3 phase, and monitored the voltage of each of the phases, then perhaps one would more consistently maintain the voltage it's supposed to maintain; and he could run off that line. But, that's a complete crapshoot, and speculation. It's just as likely that he'd be spending more money and not getting any benefit other than knowing that all of his neighbors are suffering just as much from poor infrastructure.

I live in a normal house, consisting of two floors, and not in an apartment. Majority of our city houses suffer from voltage fluctuations. Many use Voltage stabilizer but I don';t think that will work so thinking of switching to THREE PHASE

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I live in India. Upto THREE phase available for housing in our city.

It's most likely an infrastructure problem then and your only options are solar or generate your own power.

 

[PottedMeat]

It's most likely an infrastructure problem then and your only options are solar or generate your own power.

i wonder how many of those are go to actual customers

 

[Mark R]

Sounds like the electric company needs to upgrade their transformer if it's not providing enough power to the neighbourhood. Not sure what country you live in, so that may be easier said than done. Still might be worth telling them about it.

The problem with asking for an upgraded supply, is that if the grid infrastructure is already overloaded, the power company may ask you to pay for the grid infrastructure upgrade.

I've known people with large houses, want to upgrade from 20 kW to 70 kW service, and the power company comes back and says, no problem, but that'll be $20k for your share of the new transformers and power lines needed to supply you.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

i wonder how many of those are go to actual customers

This is not the case in our city. Things are improving in India, at a slow pace but still

 

[skyking]

Don't try and re-invent the solution. The voltage stabilizer or individual UPS on critical devices is the proper solution at your level. That is how I would address it.

 

[Ken g6]

Yep, line-interactive UPS or "online"/double-conversion UPS, if you can afford it. Voltage stabilizer + battery backup == line-interactive UPS.

Also, this thread now probably belongs in the Power Supplies forum.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If there's fluctuations in the power grid whether it's 1 phase or 3 phase does not matter much. 3 phase has certain advantages though like for motors and I would imagine rectification is much easier to do with 3 phase as you'll get a pretty smooth DC voltage and extremely low riple once you throw in capacitors. But just simply upgrading to 3 phase and not upgrading to 3 phase appliances wont do anything... even if 3 phase did somehow have less fluctuations.

If the problem is bad enough that you're constantly dealing with devices failing and stuff what I would look into online UPSes, or perhaps building a larger one with a dedicated panel. If you want to get fancy you could also experiment with a fly wheel system. That's where 3 phase would come in handy as it would work best with a 3 phase motor and 3 phase generator.

 

[crashtech]

In the US, 3 phase is great for high horsepower electric motors, but doesn't help residential customers much since voltage at the wall is 120V, with 220V being reserved for large appliances. But India uses 240V at the wall, so 3 phase power could conceivably be beneficial since the load in the home could be spread evenly between legs. Some analysis of voltage over time could reveal if any of the legs has more stability than the others, and that leg could be utilized for the larger loads in the home, and/or the equipment most sensitive to voltage sag. I do agree with those who advocate UPS solutions. Any solution is going to be expensive.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Just make sure to wear shoes while you are running the other phases to your place.

 

[DrPizza]

Just make sure to wear shoes while you are running the other phases to your place.

w.t.f.
Trouble with sanity? Trouble with recognizing danger? Rationalizing, "there are a billion of us in this country; if I'm electrocuted, someone can take my place"?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nothing like doing a few critical connections for stealing power while there's a power outage.

 

[EliteRetard]

 

[z1ggy]

So are you your primaries single or three phase? Sounds like people are using more power on that circuit than it can handle. I'm also guessing there aren't many voltage regulation devices in the circuit either.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

Just make sure to wear shoes while you are running the other phases to your place.

LOL, will get it done from electrical department.

 

[The Day Dreamer]

w.t.f.
Trouble with sanity? Trouble with recognizing danger? Rationalizing, "there are a billion of us in this country; if I'm electrocuted, someone can take my place"?

Fear Factor - Indian version