18 kva

[Kevan Marshall]

Just had NIE respond to my application for new electricity connection, to supply power from existing pole outside the plot they can give me 18kva 80a connection, I shall only use range electric cooker in the house, normal sockets, normal led lighting, in my garage normal led lighting, 13a sockets but require more power for my welder, my welder could potentially run off a 63a supply but I may sell it for a smaller welding machine (32a supply) rather than upgrade which would require running a new supply from 4 poles away, how many amps supply do most people go for in their new builds?

[ProDave]

I was offered 12KVA at just connection cost, anything more would mean paying for some upgrade.  So I took it.

 

The reality is I have the same 100A supply fuse as everyone else and connected to the same 100KVA transformer.

 

Your 80A connection will be fine.  Perhaps not do lots of welding while dinner is in the oven.

[Kevan Marshall]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

I was offered 12KVA at just connection cost, anything more would mean paying for some upgrade.  So I took it.

 

The reality is I have the same 100A supply fuse as everyone else and connected to the same 100KVA transformer.

 

Your 80A connection will be fine.  Perhaps not do lots of welding while dinner is in the oven.

I shall request if 100a is available, I know they try and only give an 80a supply on standard connections, if I need to I’ll sell my two big old welders and get a smaller machine that can run off 32amps, I’ll see what price the give me for upgrading as it may future proof things… 

[MPx]

I've just ordered mine and asked for 25kVA.  Spoke to the National Grid surveyor about the load - in our case 2x car chargers, lift motor, induction hob, heat pump, and all of the other normal applicances.  His recommendation was that they supply something that he initially called 2 phase - but with both phases matched ... so its really 2x 80a connections ... and to split the load across them, particarly 1 car charger on each.  Cost had to include a new pole and new overhead cables (as I need insulated to build within the 3m exclusion for uninsulated), so not cheap, but at under £6k way cheaper than when I asked about 3 phase - and if its needed....the DNO pay for a new transformer - whereas I'd have to pay for a 3ph transformer.

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Kevan Marshall said:

I shall request if 100a is available, I know they try and only give an 80a supply on standard connections, if I need to I’ll sell my two big old welders and get a smaller machine that can run off 32amps, I’ll see what price the give me for upgrading as it may future proof things… 

You'll be surprised at just how much you can abuse an 80a connection. You'll not actually be doing as much 'constant, full-wallop' consuming of the juice . These things are a lot worse on paper than in reality.

 

You'd not believe what one previous client was running off a 60a connection previously, when I was approached to refurb and add PV, and that was a large property full of electric showers / all electric cooking / fully occupied, and a self contained annex with the same all-electric setup in there sharing the same supply.

[Kevan Marshall]

43 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

You'll be surprised at just how much you can abuse an 80a connection. You'll not actually be doing as much 'constant, full-wallop' consuming of the juice . These things are a lot worse on paper than in reality.

 

You'd not believe what one previous client was running off a 60a connection previously, when I was approached to refurb and add PV, and that was a large property full of electric showers / all electric cooking / fully occupied, and a self contained annex with the same all-electric setup in there sharing the same supply.

Thanks Nick,

I’ll get in touch with NIE tomorrow and explain what I’ll be using, I went in heavy with what I needed on the online forms to future proof incase I install EV charging and a heat pump but I cannot see that happening, I can also install a gas range cooker if need be…

[markc]

I’m with Nick on this, it is surprising what you can run without any problems, and welding plants are rarely running anywhere near max so the current draw is usually pretty low (250a welding is only around 7.5Kva) and it’s not continuous unless doing big long auto runs.

[Nickfromwales]

8 hours ago, Kevan Marshall said:

Thanks Nick,

I’ll get in touch with NIE tomorrow and explain what I’ll be using, I went in heavy with what I needed on the online forms to future proof incase I install EV charging and a heat pump but I cannot see that happening, I can also install a gas range cooker if need be…

You can have the heat pump tbh as most modern, inverter-driven heat pumps have a very low inrush current as these ramp up vs ‘turning on’.

 

Also, if gas is available, you could go for a hybrid ASHP with a gas burner (Grant do these); whenever the heat pump becomes overwhelmed the gas burner kicks in to fortify output. They’re a bit pricy though.

[Kevan Marshall]

Just had a phone call from NIE asking me a questions about power consumption I would need, the guy said if I wanted a larger supply I would need to upgrade the transformer on the pole which is 150mtrs away, he said that could end up being tens of thousands, he said that maximum supply of existing pole outside property is 18.4kw/80a, price for standard connection may be between 2k and 5k, if cable is more than 33mtrs long that’s another 2k to put joint in it (do cables only come in 33mtr lengths), he also said allow 10mtrs for the pole side so only 23mtrs from pole to meter box, I explained I may use a welder occasionally and I shall probably end up selling my large welding machine and buying a smaller inverter type but he was still a little concerned even though I can draw 8kw maximum from a modern 250amp multi process welding machine, everything else I shall have shall be an electric range cooker, general sockets and lighting and a hot tub if my wife gets her own way, I’ll wait for the official quote to come through…