Distance between socket outlets on different phases

[davelerave]

Oops! I stand corrected. My previous post is rubbish. Of course, L1-L2 is an out-of-balance current WRT neutral. Trips at 30mA, the hypothetical contortionist survives.
Temporary brain failure on my part.
Thanks for the correction!

prob 2 rcd's in series if you come into contact with 480v assuming both final circits are rcd protected-

so if one fails other will likely trip-not too bad eh!

 

[Guest123]

514.10 applies here, and 417.3.1, although not so much I feel.

I have always believed that as long as all outlets supplied form different phases and simultaneously accessible were clearly labelled warning the user of the presence of the voltage between them this is ok, if however they are not labelled then they must not be simultaneously accessible a minimum distance of 2.5 meters is the accepted rule.

 

[Alisdair]

hi

you're the man with the 480v split-phase eh!

that's higher than the standard 3-phase line voltage obviously,

you could play it safe and stick to different rooms

i think that's the rule here for domestic 3-phase anyhow

Thanks again, gentlemen.

I agree that if it were a complete rewire or a new-build, I would certainly have only one phase per room, at least as far as sockets were concerned.

BUT there’s a complication I didn’t want to bore you with: This is an upgrade to an existing installation in a listed building, built in 1510, and constructed primarily of steel-hard oak, in-filled with mixture of clay, chopped straw and bovine sierra-hotel-one-tango.

Running cables is an absolute pig. Excessive drilling and smashing is illegal and surface wiring is ugly in what is supposed to be a perfect installation, so I’m stuck with using parts of the previous ring. This was put in when the previous owner did a major restoration 15 years ago. There was only one ring for the entire (large) house, and the wiring goes up, down, sideways and everywhere, following no logical route.

I’ve split the huge ring into three radials on 20A RCBOs, but am stuck with having parts of different radials in the same rooms.

Some of these will supply lovely old 2 or 3kW Belling radiant fires so I don’t want to have all the sockets on the same phase.

Hence the original question…

No one said it would be easy J

ps Yes, Dave, I’m the chap with the 480V supply. I got a quote to change the pole transformer to a modern three phase, but at over twenty grand (!) I politely declined.
BTW, no one ever answered my question about whether it’s OK to run 480 into 415 boxes…

 

[Mark42]

Err … Hello … This thread was from thirteen years ago

I’d completely forgotten about it. I do now have a proper three phase supply. The 480V issues have long gone.