Hm eps brand is almost the cheapest mcb available in the market, changing a few mcb and elcb and charge rm800, thats uber rip-off.

anyone know how much is the wiring cost if i want to move the electric meter from inside house to outside? old house the meter is inside and tnb can't take reading if nobody at home.

I plan to install 6 air-con to my new house, i wonder single phase electricity can be support or not? Thanks for your kind advice....

6 unit of how many HP A/C? are they to be used simultaneously?

pickytan,

this will depend on what kind of a/c and what temp-range. i am running 6 a/c (total load 8 HP), 3 fridges, PC, laptops, TV, dishwasher, oven and some other stuff on sgl phase - no problem. but all electric is inverter/AAA energy rating. all used at the same time. temp range for a/c is 29,28,27 degrees only

Actually there is a big different in term of power availability between 1 phase and 3 phase. A 63A 3 phase has about 45kW capacity while 63A 1 phase has only 15kW. 3 times the capacity, that's the different. Btw please check the incoming cable size or current carrying capacity b4 changing to a larger size ELCB.

This post has been edited by Singh_Kalan: Dec 2 2009, 12:04 AM

Hi All,

TNB currently has the 3-phase promotion. Has anyone done it before? I have few questions:

1) It stated there 'overhead line service' and 'underground cable' service. Anyone know what does that mean?
2) My guess is if I don't see 3-phase wires (those 3-colour wires) running across it, then it means only single phase right? Then I will need to do the 'underground cable' service, which only cost rm400 for 60A 3-phase wires. Kinda cheap if it is fixed at rm400 regardless of distance.
3) Does TNB actually has to dig the ground from their main switch over to our house. Does it include digging my car porch?
4) Does the new 3-phase meter come free from TNB with this promotion?
5) I am currently renovating my house, and it has 5 bedrooms. I expect to have my worst case usage of running 5x1hp aircon at night. Do I need 3 phase? How much current does modern air conds consume anyway?
6) If all I need is just rm400, might as well install the 3-phase wire and make my house 3-phase ready even though I might not be changing the DB yet. Is this a correct thinking?

Thanks!

Regards,
Lim

thanks for the info. i will check this out for my house

i cant answer any of your questions besides 4) though. 5 a/c should not be a problem if you dont use full power setting and inverters. i am running 7 HP inverter A/C 24/7 (but on 28° only) and the normal remaining items (all AAA and above) on single phase wiring and dont have any problems at all.

Hi PJusa,

Thanks for the sharing. Based on your experience, seems like I don't need 3 phase though. I checked most aircon branded specs online and they only consume 4-6A (average, not peak), while peak currents can exceed 10A. Peak currents happen when the compressor is starting to run. So using inverter will reduce those peaks and make your current consumption stable like a straight line. If all 7 non-inverter aircons turn on at the same time, the worst case peak current could be 10Ax7 = 70A, which will certainl make the ELCB trip. However, if each aircon is turned on one at a time, then it won't trip.

By the way, what does AAA mean?

Regards,
Lim

AAA is the energy rating. we make sure any appliance we buy is at least AAA or higher (lowest consumption). saves a lot in the long run.

I am staying in an apartment and my power supply is single phase.

1) Lately, the fuse inside my unit burned. The electrician who came to do the repair told me the fuse was too small. It was 32A. He changed it to a bigger one, 63A. Is it the right move? (I am not sure is it called a fuse or ELCB or whatever.)

2) Again, I check the fuse beside the TNB meter outside the unit. The rating is only 32A. Is this rating for the fuse correct?

I called up the electrician, he told me both should be 63A. (but he forgot that the outside one was also changed by him some two years ago!)

3) When I touch the outside fuse beside the TNB meter, it was kind of hot, like touching the body of a car under a hot sun. Is it normal?

Appreciate some advices from you all.

Thanks.

Mudtrekker

how to differentiate AAA and non AAA ratings?

Hi Mudtrekker,

I am not an electrician but here's my opinion.

The weakest link of the entire path is the determining factor. Here, your external fuse is 32A, while internal one is 63A, that means your maximum current is still 32A. No point changing just one fuse.

Check your neighbour, what fuse is he using? If your apartment is built with 32A wires, then using 63A fuse has the risk of overloading the wires (might burn).

Fuses are meant to cut your electric supply in the event of overloading. For example, when your heater has short-circuited, huge amount of currents will flow and this will cause the ELCB to trip or the fuse to cut off.

As for #3, no idea about temperature, but as long as the fuse is not cut off, it is ok. Electric current definitely generate heat, and fuses are built to withstand currents up to their maximum.

Having said that, how many electrical appliances are you turning at the same time? 32A is quite a lot for an apartment. Normally air con these days come with just 3-5A rating. So even with 32A, you can run 6 aircons at the same time.

Maybe the fuse is too old and so it burnt and not because of hitting the max 32A? I dunno, maybe you can ask a second opinion from another electrician.

Regards,
Lim

---

Added on February 22, 2010, 8:39 pmThanks, Lim,

You mentioned that 32A is already too big, now the guy have changed it to 63A. Don't you think it is too much? Will it cause fire to my apartment? I am actually very worried about this.

I need to clarify a bit. Actually my earlier fuse, or shall I call it ELCB, literally burned. It was not just that the fuse broken, but the whole casing like overheated, became black brown and melted. We smelled some burning smell for two days and finally we noticed that the ELCB was having problem.

My next question is, the ELCB was supposed to cut off current when it is overloaded. Why it didn't cut off but it itself melted?
(of caused not exactly melted. The material won't melt but is sort of became black brown, bulged and distorted, giving out burning smell. Normally there is one small capsule inside which we can take out to change, but that capsule cannot even be taken out now. The whole thing now become one single piece fused together).

My unit is having 3 air-cond, 1hp in the small room, 1.5hp in the big room and another 2hp in the hall. Normally we switch on the 2hp daytime, 2 or 3pm till say 9 or 10pm, at 25C, and not continuously. We will switch off for 1hr or so when it becomes too cold and on it back when it is hot.

As for the two small air-con, we normally switch it on 11 or 12 midnight till say 6 or 7am.

At one any time, we never or seldom have all the 3 air-cond switch on together.

We have two heaters too and only switch on when someone is bathing.

The ELCB burned when we have the 2hp & 1hp on and both heaters were running on that day.

Was it a bad move for the electrician to change the ELCB from 32A to 63A ?

Best Regards
Mudtrekker


This post has been edited by Mudtrekker: Feb 22 2010, 08:39 PM

Need some advice...
Recently I brought a 2nd house (terrace corner). The previous owner said the house is connect with 3 phase wiring for the electricity. But I notice that there are only 3 lines were connected to the house (3 phase suppose to have 4 lines). I checked at SESCO (Sarawak Eleciticity Board), they said that the meter number (stated on the electricity bill) is for 3 phase wiring , so I had paid the 3 phase wiring deposit amounting to RM 1,500.00. Did anyone encounter such situation ? I had checked the surrounding of the house or even the row of the terrace, but i didn't notice any additional line connect in. Can single phase electicity being run on 3 phase meter ?? Hope anyone can provide the answer for that . Thank in advance.

I live in a condo with 5 aircons, 1 fridge, washing machine, drier and 2 instant water heater.

1 x 1.5hp
2 x 2.0hp
2 x 1.0hp

Total = 7.5hp aircon

Do you think I need to upgrade from single to 3 phase wiring?

Unless you turn on everything at the same time then you might need to change. Other than that it should be fine.

you mean all at once?

How about I turn it on one at a time and at the end all the aircons is switched on?

Will there be any problem?

It's actually very hard to judge based on number of aircond alone. Things like your temperature setting also affects it.

What I mean is all the airconds are on even you turn on one at a time. At the end when all the airconds are on that might be a problem.
Then again it depend on the usage of the electric current. As long as the amount of power is within the range of 63A as per standard 1 phase
electricity.