Roger440

Not heard of that. Ill have to look into that. But i still have a limited single phase supply. When i use the compressor, its likely to be for several hours, far more than any battery will be able to provide

Pretty similar to mine! Ill drop you a pm.

That sounds interesting. Would be good if you could post up more details if you don't mind? I've got, essentially, unlimited space for solar panels. What sort of equipment will you be running from the 3 phase?

For anyone remotely interested, ive got nowhere with National Grid. i can have a 60 to 80 amp single phase upgrade, which i will probaly just do anyway (before the buggers decide to lower the max limit further), or spend the best part of £20k for a 3 phase supply, which is actually what i want. My only angle would be to challenge their public info that says the customer doesnt have to pay for Network re-inforcement. Essentially its not true, as there are so many get outs and exceptions, it not much beyond (untrue) PR. Dont know if i can be bothered with the fight, one ill likely lose anyway. One thought i had, are there consultants that can argue on your behalf, who know how to play the system? Google didnt bring any actual companies up. Over the winter, i will start planning my alternative which, as im out of options, is a silenced generator, solar and batteries. Ive got the solar already, will use my forklift batteries, so just a genset, and invertors and ancilliary stuff to buy. Which is a bonkers position to be in, in a developed country, with a 3 phase pole 50 feet from where the power is needed. I might start a thread later as this needs to be a DIY effort primarily!

And in my case a nice genset as well as connection costs are ridiculous.

No it wont. Not in any meaningful way. Mucho cash is being made. Vested interests will make sure that continues. As pocster says, electricity prices are a one way bet. And for one overiding reason. Its in nobodies interest, apart from us consumers to reduce prices. Everyone involved in making and selling electricity is doing very nicely with the current arrangement.

If you can put that much into one, then great. Much less likley to run into trouble. Im not sure id describe it as the sweet spot though, as thats a lot of cash tied up.

All of this for me too. Plus, no one has mentioned weather. You hire a digger then it rains and you cant do the job, or it makes the job 10 times harder than it needs to be. But you still have to pay if you are hiring. Own it, and you can sit indoors and drink tea when its raining, safe in the knowledge, the digger is sat waiting. Cheaper diggers, providing they stay working wont lose value. My last one, i had for 4 years, and lost £500 on a £5.5k outlay. Yes, i did some minor repairs plus a slew motor that cost me £300. Cheaper diggers are a gamble though.

That's quite good compared to mine. Wanted not much less for 50 feet. As Dave said, more details required.

Theres not much of a sweet spot. Anything thats ex company or ex hire are a lot of money. Anything older seems to disappear abroad. Older stuff here, is hard to find. They do come up, but you need to be on the look out all the time. Plus of course the market is rife with scammers. Also, if going for older, factor in it probably will break down. If you are hands on and practical, mostly not the end of the world, but if you need to pay every time, the cost and delays will quickly render it a false economy. Im on my second Kubota KX61 (which was £5k, Mostly because its got no cab or roll over hoop). Which as it happens, broke down mid job yesterday. Got it fixed this morning but lost 6 hours productive time with the rain closing in. It also broke down a couple of weeks ago, and desperatley needs new tracks (steel). Im nursing it as tracks are mad money. And one of the rams is pissing out oil But it was cheap, so no real surprise.

The best builders merchants would be one i dont have to interface with. i am amazed however, that the world seems to have mostly passed them by. As Alan said earlier, the online activities are mostly woeful, lie about stock, no idea when they can deliver etc etc. The in store experience exsasparating. How much is anything, really? Im my world and many other sectors, if you dont have it, and cant deliver next day, you are not really in the game. Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, someone, probably one of the big boys, (with a big distribution/delivery network)will realise they can clean up by getting their act together. Charge sensible prices that are what they are, deliver next day, and be transparent about your stock. Bit like screwfix, but bigger. In the process they can just close the doors at the braches and concentrate on being efficient distribution points. Cant happen to soon. Whole industry needs dragging into this century. Im still amazed no one has jumped into this space, but im sure it will come.

You think £8k to run a cable down a pole and across a lane isnt "gouging"? Grant, not as outrageous as mine, but hardly reasonable. £8k to connect, so you can pay for electricity. Like going to a petrol station to fill up and getting charged for pump installation.

Can you imagine getting a spares catalogue , materials directory and trouble shooting manual from your average UK house builder!!!

I think that is maybe to miss the point a touch. Their way of working is to cover all the bases and have solutions before they ever set out to the job. They wont need to "fix things up on site". Ive worked with a fair few German companies over the last 30 years. Whilst they are not all perfect, they have a very different outlook and approach to us. In most respects, a better one.

i wish!