ESB Maximum Load 8kW

HPMan

Hi all,

roughly 15 years ago ESB wrote out of the blue saying my maximum electrical load was 8kW. They said it was not due to me "running too power".

It didnt really matter to me at the time it made me that in a bad winter I could easily run close to the 8kW figure.

I am wanting to replace a central heating hot water shower with an instant electric shower and maybe another 2 showers. Does it mean that a basic 8kW shower (i really like 3 x 11kW showers) couldnt run at that if i had the ketttle on, a 2 bar fire and maybe the washer and/or tumble dryer etc.

Am I forced to turn stuff off etc, what is a workable solution?

Also I am looking to get solar panels, would they give me "3 phase electric" in effect so I could run more than 8kW.

Regards

sparcocars

By any chance is your property an older property?

The standard single phase MIC (Maximum Import Capacity) for older domestic poperties used be 8KVA.

It may have been this they were referring to.

This is opposed to the newer standard of 12KVA or 16KVA.

If you contact your local esb office with your mprn they can advise you what your MIC is.

You may need to get an increase in your MIC if its the 8KVA. If you want three phase, yes this is possible but the cost will depend hugely on the physical location of the house to the nearest three phase network.

If quite a distance then the costs may be significant.

HPMan

Hi, yes it is an older house, 60s / early 70s.

Thanks for the info about an increase, I am not too sure if I am thinking wrong, depends on running loads I guess - but even if i got an increase from 8 to 16, my 11kw shower, my 3kw kettle for my morning cuppa, my 1kw? toaster and my 2kw bar fire would kick me over 16 even before you add in lights and say the tv for morning tv, And that excludes another shower being used.

Am I expecting too much and in the real world it all pans out fine and 12 could be perfectly ok. But why not have say 20 or 30?

The previous owners we understand had 3 phase as they had machinery, the esb meter from 1972 however has only 2 thick wires going into it and a 3rd thick wire is capped off. On the supply ple to the house it looks like 2 twisted wires just like other houses seem to have (which we guess dont have / never had 3 phase). I am not sure if 3 phase would be something i would need but dont know.

Thanks for the advice, cheers

sparcocars

The maximum single phase connection available is 29KVA but this is definitely not neccessary.

Don't worry about adding your loads up as you as. The is a diversity factor applied to all loads. This means there is less lod taken into account than what is consumed by a device.

Essentially a lot of the common loads in many domestic settings are cyclical in their use.

If there is only a two pair of twisted wires supplying the house from outside then it never had a three phase connection.

Best bet would be to contact your local esb office. It may not cost anything to have your supply brought up to the nee standard of 12KVA but i'd imagine it would cost to get an enhanced connection of 16KVA.

JL spark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119442735#Comment_119442735

Depends on the installation he has , could cost thousands to bring up to regs , a cert would be needed from a RECI to get a upgrade,

icylava

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119439167#Comment_119439167

Any idea what a 3ph network connecting point looks like? Some say it's a pole with 3 parallel wires and some say it's the transformer...

I'd like to get a feel for the cost if I were to upgrade to 3ph.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200552#Comment_121200552

Probably the 3-wire MV on poles they tap off that via a transformer i think

There can also be 4-wires on poles in towns etc that connects direct with no transformer

The 3 wire HV lines will be much higher up and they can't connect off those afaik

TheChizler

I have pretty much the same question but I'm in a situation where I'm already unintentionally exceeding the MIC.

Changed provider recently and just got the connection letter from ESBN. Spotted that we have an 8 kVA MIC, which seemed ridiculously low so I started looking into it. We have an 8.5 kW electric shower, and it wouldn't be at all unusual for that to be on at the same time as the 2.5 kW kettle and oven/hob.

We have an 80 A ESB fuse so never thought we'd run into issues, smart plugs with voltage monitors report a low of 210 V occasionally but it seems to be a neighbourhood issue since that can happen when we're not here. Never had any electrical issues in the 5 years we've been here.

The house predates electrification, and we still have some 2 pin sockets so I'm guessing it hasn't been inspected since the standard MIC was upgraded to 12 kVA. Is it possible the connection is actually rated for the 80 A but only 8 kVA officially because it hasn't been certified internally to modern standards?

We're planning a total renovation so will get it sorted then, I'm hesitant to contact the ESB about it in case it triggers some inspection, especially while all seems fine for the moment.

John.G

How do you know you have a 80A ESB fuse?, my 1972 house had the fuse holder replaced about 12 years ago with a 60A/80A holder but I don't know which fuse, I forgot to ask the smart meter installer when I got a smart meter installed about a year ago, he also kindly installed a new isolator, the wires going into this are 4.74mm OD so would guess 10mm sq cable which should have a diameter of (by calc) 3.57mm so probably a 60A fuse. I don't have a CU so no main house fuse.

Isolator.jpg

That's just an isolator. There will be an ESB fuse, in a sealed box ahead of the meter. It's possible it may not be labelled with a rating on the casing though or it may just say 60/80 amps, so you'd have to ask the ESB as the fuse is not visible and is sealed by them.

Usually it's a black box or a grey/white box of similar design. If you go to 4.1 in this document, you'll see the usual types: https://www.esbnetworks.ie/docs/default-source/publications/cut-outs-for-electrification-of-domestic-heat-and-transport.pdf?sfvrsn=974294d5_17

There is another type, which is a Diazed (screw in type) fuse in a clear box. This isn't in this document, but it's definitely a type they used in some installations before the late 1970s. With those you may actually be able to read the fuse rating by just shining a torch in and looking closely.

Don't open any of the ESB fuse carriers. It's an offence to tamper with them and quite dangerous too.

As for the age of the wiring, 2-pin (scraping side-earthed German / continental style 'Schuko' sockets) were one of the types used here until some in the 1960s. I don't think there was a hard imposed single standard until later, so some installers continued to use 'Schuko' quite far into the 1960s. Others used the current square pin BS1363 type and others seemed to use the older round pin British BS546 type. Honestly not sure what the history of it was, but it seemed to be a bit of a mess of different installers doing different things, until they eventually standardised on the current system.

Just bear in mind though that it usually means the installation could be pretty old anything from the 1920s to the late 1960s. They're pretty rare to encounter these days though, other than where someone's installed 'Schuko' as a facility for continental tourists in modern hotels.

TheChizler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826707#Comment_121826707

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121836925#Comment_121836925

Sorry for the late reply I was waiting to take a picture when I got home and forgot!

The fuse holder has 80A printed on it but it's possible/probable it actually says 60A/80A but the tamper seal is over it. In any case taking the lower value that's still much larger than my 8 kVA.

John.G

This is mine.

Fuse Holder.jpg