3 phase at home

Hi all,

Looking into the possibility of having 3 phase installed at home.
Reason being is that I want a decent mig welder and to get something decent in single phase i'd be looking at $2000. A second hand 3 phase industrial mig would only cost $500 or so.

Also i'll be able to pickup a decent 3 phase lathe and drill press in the future too.

I'm just wondering on the cost of having 3 phase installed. I just require a single outlet in the garage. As far as I know we already have 3 phase in out street.

If I could get away with it for around $1000 or so that would be great.

A price breakdown would be good as well, as in 5 months my friend will be a qualified electrician and will be able to do the installation.

Is it the labour that's the most expensive or the materials? I'll probably be able to pickup some second hand outlets and a meter box if need be.

Also how much does the power company normally charge to enable it?

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks in advance

It's one of those questions, Com_VC, that's hard to answer without knowing the layout of your garage and so on. In my case a local electrician installed it for $500, but I supplied the outlet and so on. We already had three phase wire to the board, and the electricity people didn't charge anything to install the metres.

You're on the right track though. The three phase tools and welders are relatively cheap and better.

If I were you I'd start shopping on Ebay for outlets and a three phase circuit breaker.

Good luck.

Make sure you tell you energy authority that you want it for air con. In Bris if you do that energex do the pole connection and few 3 phase lead in for free - about a $500 saving.

A sparky will have to rewire your board and balance the load across the 3 phases and from there they will submit a form to you local power authority for the connection.

Sockets are expensive - like over $100 so get one or two off ebay or find them in a demolition shop.

Btw the big mig you buy will be awesome - I bought a 300A 3 phase mig out of the trading post for $275 - fantastic bit of gear with a traveller and all associated bits. Cost me $800 for sparky and I was a dummy and said I wanted it for a welder so it cost me $475 from energex.

But I can mig anything - the 3 phase units are smoother - better built and give you much more control as well as being able to join honking bit bits of metal together down to weleding sheet metal. Just do it - you won't be sorry


Tom

They have to install an extra meter box too don't they? So you would have an extra bill just for 3 phase?

Also is the cost to use it more expensive than single phase?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Com_VC

They have to install an extra meter box too don't they? So you would have an extra bill just for 3 phase?

Also is the cost to use it more expensive than single phase?

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Yeah they replace the meter with the a new one that will use meter the 3 phases. It costs no more - you pay for you usage at the same rate as the single phase service - when you use the 3 phase equipment you will be using power from all 3 phases, the rest of you house will be split across the phases and use 1/3 as much across 3 phases which = the same as if it were on a single phase service.

I have a 3 phase mig and bench saw - I notice no difference on my bill - I only notice my usage goes up $50 in summer (air con :) )

Tom

Hi Com_VC,

There are two major ways to do this: the expensive way (the way I did it) and the less expensive way (the way a mate of mine did it).

The expensive way is as has been suggested in other posts of this thread; get in three phase power from Energex and have your sparky balance the phases over your whole house. This involves rewiring everything and takes a sparky quite a while to do it depending on how many circuits you have, how many air cons, pools, etc. etc. When all said and done it cost me about four grand.

The less expensive way is to completely bypass your house wiring; get Energex to put in the extra metres and only bring in the extra phases to your shop (i.e. for your welder). My friend also purchased the 10m2 cable and laid it all out himself which cut the cost further. This method would only work if your house load doesn't require a full 80 Amps as your house wiring would not be "balanced" across the phases.

Yes, three phase outlets are hideously expensive, especially when you move up into the 20Amp and higher ratings. Thoughts of putting in only one outlet and plugging and unplugging various machines into the outlet do come to mind (though very inconvenient)...

Good luck, regards from Luckyduck

I have an electrician installing our three-phase AC unit, so I'll keep you up to date on how much it costs. The main thinig is to do as much for your friend as you can.