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Old 15th May 2018, 4:46 pm   #24
philthespark
Pentode
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 158
Default Re: European voltage in the UK?

The whole harmonisation thing was a joke from start to finish, I have spoken to more than one senior power engineer on networks, and they all say the same,"never happen here". It is as others have said, not as easy as flicking a switch or two to alter the voltage, a lot of components on the network would need to be replaced.
Interestingly enough, I've plugged a logging meter in at home and seen the voltage shift from as high as 254, to as low as 220 over a 24 hour period.
The funniest incident happened a few years back, I had issues with lights dimming etc and phoned the DNO, this young lad came out, tested the earth loop value and pronounced that all was well, from the results I had, clearly it wasn't.
I attached my test meters and as I increased the load, you could see the voltage drop, I actually got it down to about 150V when pulling about 40 amps. He then said that it was a joint on the service cable that must have failed, and promptly began tearing up the pavement. Along came a more senior engineer and informed him that, if he'd read the mornings briefing notes, he'd have realised that the ring feeding our street had developed a fault, and we were actually currently on the end of a long radial, hence the volt drop.
After a telling off from his boss, he left, a much wiser bloke, I bet he never failed to read the briefing notes after that.
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