UK 63amp-100amp

[Highlandbilly]

Have just bought a house but find main supply is only 63amp
Other houses in street seem higher going by street plan I take it the 35 in all other houses and 25 in mine is relevent to this but don't know what it means - picture is from Scottish and southern electric company

anyway 63 is not enough for todays power consumption
All tails seem to be for 100amp and just got smart meter put in this week
southern are sending quote but is it not their responsibility to get an adequate amp to my house
Also the wire coming is white and not the usual grey (better or worse i don't know)

 

[rapparee]

Have you put on a clamp meter around your tails and monitored what your average and peak demand is?

You might see that 63A is enough

 

[DefyG]

would have thought it refers to sqmm of incoming supply cable 25sq mm, 35 sq mm etc.
25 should be good for 100A. Perhaps previous owners had supply derated to 63A?

 

[Highlandbilly]

Have not installed kitchen yet And have power shower added and maybe a car charger point as i have electric car
Been reading around and have gathered 100amp minimum now for most houses is this correct

this is in reply to rapparee

 

[Dartlec]

Although it is SSE's responsibility to maintain the supply to you once it's there, I don't believe they have a duty to provide a particular rating.

The picture does appear to suggest you have smaller cable running to your house than the surrounding ones, for whatever reason (perhaps yours was built first, or had the main fuse moved at some point and it was cheaper to install a 63A one)

In reality it's very rare for a supplier's fuse to be an issue with overload, simply because most domestic properties use nowhere near that - or only in short term bursts which the fuse can cope with (It will not blow the moment you use more than 63 Amps in load)

It may be worth seeing if they will come out and inspect, they may be able to raise the fuse to 80A even if not 100A.

If you do have a car charger put in, there are ones that can adjust the charge based on the load elsewhere so that it never takes more than the supply can safely give. Since most car charging occurs overnight when other big loads aren't usually on, it may not be a practical issue anyway.

 

[Rockingit]

TLDR - you'll be fine. 15kw is more than enough for an average small domestic - stop learning by social media

 

[Highlandbilly]

TLDR - you'll be fine. 15kw is more than enough for an average small domestic - stop learning by social media

If its fine why are most 100amp and rest of street 35mm wires and mine only 25mm (middle house not first or last built)
P.S Is there anywhere i can find out history of wiring to see if mine has been downgraded or other houses upgraded

 

[Rockingit]

If its fine why are most 100amp and rest of street 35mm wires and mine only 25mm (middle house not first or last built)
P.S Is there anywhere i can find out history of wiring to see if mine has been downgraded or other houses upgraded

For starters you'll only almost certainly have an incoming cable of 16mm, exactly as all your neighbours will.
Second, just because you've found a diagram online somewhere don't assume it's accurate, it's very common indeed to find 80A fuses in 100A cut-outs.
Thirdly, when the DNO's are working out their own diversity calculations they use a ridiculously low value of something like 1.5KW per dwelling.
Fourthly, you'll probably find that you've been spurred off a neighbour which is common and absolutely fine.
And bringing up the rear at number five..... what on earth makes you think that you are going to be drawing constantly more than 15kW???!! To put that into context your electricity bill would be in excess of £23k per year......

 

[Wilko]

Hi - you might find if the DNO supply fuse melted due to your domestic load they would attend and upgrade it, free of charge. At least you’d find out why it’s been set that way.
For what it’s worth, I have 60A fuse on the home supply (Bronze Age DNO cable capacity) and it’s never been an issue, but I do have gas heating and no leccie van to charge, yet.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Lets have a look at the consumer unit, so we can see the MCBs and what each circuit is for.

 

[Highlandbilly]

For starters you'll only almost certainly have an incoming cable of 16mm, exactly as all your neighbours will.

Second, just because you've found a diagram online somewhere don't assume it's accurate, it's very common indeed to find 80A fuses in 100A cut-outs.
Thirdly, when the DNO's are working out their own diversity calculations they use a ridiculously low value of something like 1.5KW per dwelling.
Fourthly, you'll probably find that you've been spurred off a neighbour which is common and absolutely fine.
And bringing up the rear at number five..... what on earth makes you think that you are going to be drawing constantly more than 15kW???!! To put that into context your electricity bill would be in excess of £23k per year......

The drawing was sent yesterday from southern power here is the whole drawing

 

[Highlandbilly]

Lets have a look at the consumer unit, so we can see the MCBs and what each circuit is for.

Kitchen not yet installed as only moved into house

 

[Rockingit]

Sorry, I'm really struggling to understand why you think you have a problem here

 

[snowhead]

I'm only going to respond to this thread once as I can see it's going to roll on for pages and pages and pages.

Don't trust the drawing, it will be from historic records and may not be accurate.
Size of cable does not indicate the size of fuse in a property, the rest may all have 63amp.

Any Eletrician doing work in the house will be able to work out the max demand and check if the fuse and supply is adequate, which as others have already pointed out, it is, even for future demand.

To get the supply upgraded an Electrician will have to supply details of the extra load to convince SSE to allow an upgrade which could cost you thousands if the local network has to be re-enforced.
SSE may say there is no need to upgrade even with the extra load.

There isn't a problem or even a prospective problem.

What about the Gas and Water is there a problem there as well?

 

[Rockingit]

I'm only going to respond to this thread once as I can see it's going to roll on for pages and pages and pages.

Yeah, but, fish and barrels, fish and barrels...... (can you tell I'm bored already today?)

 

[Taylortwocities]

You do not have any unusual or heavy loads. Your existing 63A will be heaps for your current needs.
nothing needs to be done unless you are thinking of adding something like a 10Kw electric shower. But I guess your existing (gas boiler?) delivers all your heat and hot water?

 

[Highlandbilly]

You do not have any unusual or heavy loads. Your existing 63A will be heaps for your current needs.
nothing needs to be done unless you are thinking of adding something like a 10Kw electric shower. But I guess your existing (gas boiler?) delivers all your heat and hot water?

Have a shower but it does not seem to be on consumer unit unless its along with bath which is a Electric jacuzzi type
Heating is supplied by gas boiler but water from hot water tank

Only reason i am asking is that electrician that was in said it was low as most are 100amp and he says it will go first if any problem

P.s this site is so hard to navigate with all the adds but i guess there would be no site if no adds.

pps this is in cupboard along with the hot water tank is it just a punp

 

[Rockingit]

Have a shower but it does not seem to be on consumer unit unless its along with bath which is a Electric jacuzzi type
Heating is supplied by gas boiler but water from hot water tank

Only reason i am asking is that electrician that was in said it was low as most are 100amp and he says it will go first if any problem

P.s this site is so hard to navigate with all the adds but i guess there would be no site if no adds.

pps this is in cupboard along with the hot water tank is it just a punp

I think an inexperienced 'electrician' may have led you astray, here.

 

[DPG]

Persevere with the site. There are some very knowledgable people on here. I know it's barely usable on a mobile, but hopefully that will be sorted soon.

 

[Rockingit]

pps this is in cupboard along with the hot water tank is it just a punp

Yes, it's just a pump.

 

[telectrix]

Yes, it's just a pump.

it's not "just a pump". it's a nice shiny pump with green collars. and it has a thermal cut-out.

 

[7029 dave]

I have seen all electric installations on a 60A fuse, no problem.

New supplies round these parts standard are 80A single phase.

 

[Rockingit]

I have seen all electric installations on a 60A fuse, no problem.

New supplies round these parts standard are 80A single phase.

To give some more context to this, I have a property I look after that I designed/built about ten years out in the sticks that is also all electric. It has private bore hole, fresh and foul water treatment plant, 14kw's of ground source heating.... The AFTER diversity calcs are something like 220A if done to the book. It's been sitting on an 80A fuse coming from a 16kVA pole transformer for a decade, no issues.

 

[hasel5]

Think you need to think again on this you could be on a looped supply and if so will require permission from the DNO for a Car charger point to be installed.
They may want to unloose you as well which could be at your cost.

Personally would keep quiet and just live with it

 

[freddo]

25 and 35mm sounds big for a supply cable to a house, we did a load of new bungalows 5 years ago and the DNO installed 10mm supply cables to all the cutouts...

I wired in a power quality analyser to my house for 2 weeks, for no reason other than to learn how to use it, and my peak current drawn was 17.5A (the meter was set to ignore brief spikes such as fridge compressor starting). The peak was when I ran the electric oven and kettle on together. Though my kettle draws only 4.9A. I have a 60A fuse in the cutout and during some extreme testing of electrical switchgear still didn't blow it.

 

[MJPD29]

100a is not the minimum for houses now, in fact in the majority of houses it is the maximum. Realistically 60a will probably be fine unless your going to stand in the shower for 3 hours while cooking a roast dinner and charging your car. It is possible to upgrade to 100a, but I highly doubt you'll ever need anywhere near that.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Just for reference I just clamped my tails while the lad was in the shower and we have got dinner cooking, lights on and TVs going... 46Amps. You will be alright ?

 

[Highlandbilly]

They got back to us quoting £134 to go from 63amp to 100amp seems cheap unless its Just a fuse change?
The cable going in is around half an inch across but has been painted so i cant make out writing see photo

 

[Taylortwocities]

For £134 it can only be a fuse change. That price is barely enough to cover the paperwork. Go for it, if it makes you feel better. Not needed though!