PFC by enquiry

brman · Feb 3, 2012

Just started my 2395 and the fact that PFC by enquiry is the preferred method has been mentioned a few times.

So, I thought I would try it for my own house

Called Scottish Power using the number on my bill. Couldn't get to anyone who knew what I was talking about. In fact at first they refused to talk to me because I am not the bill payer (my wife is).
Eventually managed to get through to someone in SSE distribution who dug up some diagrams of standard systems and started quoting me figures from that (eg max Ze 0.8 for TN-S etc) but could not be more specific.
I then found this "useful" (I am being sarcastic btw) info on the SSEPD website....
"For electrical contractors" it says "you may find these useful when completing EICs" and then goes on to quote a PFC of 16kA and max Ze as per the regs.

Have I just not found the right department or are they really that useless when it comes to giving out this information?

This is for Hampshire btw, billed from Scottish power and delivered by SSE Power Distribution.

i=p/u · Feb 3, 2012

aye the are useless i rang up one time to see what earthing sstem was in house, i knew tt but just done it because we taught in tech , the have to tell us by the law.... said couldnt tell me straight away, but would get back to me in few days, and then said the electrician on site should know, i said i was but just hadnt been to job yet

ian.settle1 · Feb 3, 2012

brman said:
Just started my 2395 and the fact that PFC by enquiry is the preferred method has been mentioned a few times.

So, I thought I would try it for my own house

Called Scottish Power using the number on my bill. Couldn't get to anyone who knew what I was talking about. In fact at first they refused to talk to me because I am not the bill payer (my wife is).
Eventually managed to get through to someone in SSE distribution who dug up some diagrams of standard systems and started quoting me figures from that (eg max Ze 0.8 for TN-S etc) but could not be more specific.
I then found this "useful" (I am being sarcastic btw) info on the SSEPD website....
"For electrical contractors" it says "you may find these useful when completing EICs" and then goes on to quote a PFC of 16kA and max Ze as per the regs.

Have I just not found the right department or are they really that useless when it comes to giving out this information?

This is for Hampshire btw, billed from Scottish power and delivered by SSE Power Distribution.

With your last line you have answered your question as you have your electric supplied by Scottish Power you rang their number regarding bill enquiries and would not have any idea what you where asking as the local DNO is a totally different company who has this info.

brman · Feb 3, 2012

i=p/u said:
aye the are useless i rang up one time to see what earthing sstem was in house, i knew tt but just done it because we taught in tech , the have to tell us by the law.... said couldnt tell me straight away, but would get back to me in few days, and then said the electrician on site should know, i said i was but just hadnt been to job yet

yes, i got the same thing... "can't you ask and electrician?" :mad2:
Well I guess I could ask myself to measure it. Does that count as getting it by enquiry? :lol:

brman · Feb 3, 2012

ian.settle1 said:
With your last line you have answered your question as you have your electric supplied by Scottish Power you rang their number regarding bill enquiries and would not have any idea what you where asking as the local DNO is a totally different company who has this info.

I wasn't that suprised that Scottish Power didn't know the answer but thought they might know who to pass me on to. However I did then get on to SSE power distribution. Surely they are my DNO and should at least know what I am talking about. Perhaps someone used to SSE can confirm if there is a number which will get me to the person who can answer the question properly.

stujham · Feb 3, 2012

Tried making enquiries in the past, always been engaged so give up.

You can try Nationalgrid dot com, all the info on DNO's are there under uk/Electricity/AboutElectricity/DistributionCompanies/

brman · Feb 3, 2012

thanks stujham, that confirms my DNO is SSE Power Distribution but the only contact details there is an emergency number which I assume is not what I want?

stujham · Feb 3, 2012

Not sure, I know my area is Electricity Northwest 0871 number for Technical Information ie: PSC, ZE, Earthing type etc.. but anytime I've tried its engaged

brman · Feb 3, 2012

If there is such number for SSE I love to know it, even I never manage to get through

MarkieSparkie · Feb 4, 2012

Hi brman,
The phone number for Scottish & Southern Energy, Network Alterations or New Supply, is 0845-3002141 or better still the free call (from land-line only) number 0800-0483515 but this is often busy at peak times.

brman · Feb 4, 2012

Thanks Markie! Neither are numbers I had found before so I'll give them a go next week.

Guest123 · Feb 4, 2012

Personally I think the 'by inquiry' option should be removed from test certs & other documents etc, as it isn't really an option because when you ring up, no-one knows WTF you are on about.

After you've been put through to various departments the last chap you speak to will just say "should be less than 0.8 or 0.35 etc for Ze and less than 16KA for Ipf.

ipf · Feb 4, 2012

Lenny said:
Personally I think the 'by inquiry' option should be removed from test certs & other documents etc, as it isn't really an option because when you ring up, no-one knows WTF you are on about.

After you've been put through to various departments the last chap you speak to will just say "should be less than 0.8 or 0.35 etc for Ze and less than 16KA for Ipf.

Exactly! Waste of bleedin' time.

jase · Feb 4, 2012

I came across a house that was wired as a TT but looked like the overheads in that area had been converted to overhead pme, there was a 16mm earth but not terminated at either the consumer unit or the service head, so i tried ringing the dno to find out if indeed it was an overhead pme supply, 4 phonecalls later and a lot of listening to various classical music no-one knew, i remember being told at one point that they did not know what type of wiring was installed in that area, imagine if you had done a cooker install but did not know what type of cabling you had put in or what earthing arangement you had used, you would be open to all sorts of crap, but it seem these people can just go rounf the countrty supplying peoples homes with whatever system they feel is appropiate, but have no record or knowledge of what they have done!!!
I kept the house as a TT as at least that way i knew what earth was there and what the Ze and Zs's were!!