Electricians - any out there?

[mackers]

I know Laoislad is an electrician so if he or anyone else can help I'd appreciate.

I run a gaming arcade and over the years the number of machines we have and sophistication of said machines as risen dramatically to the level where I wonder if the ESB supply is fit for purpose with the bill now coming in at roughly €750 per month... This morning I got a letter from ESB Networks advising me of our responsibilities as customers connected to the Electricity distribution system so I can only guess its being flagged up at their end that I'm using too much electric.

It tells me that my MIC and Duos tariff group will determine my capacity charges, can I find these out for myself or is it just a ring an electrician straight away scenario? Its single phase by the way and finally if it is not fit for purpose what is the likely next step and how much will it cost??

Contact electricitysaverireland.com they specialise in lowering electricity costs for firms like yours, they are based in Armagh and Dundalk.

[Boycey]

I know Laoislad is an electrician so if he or anyone else can help I'd appreciate.

I run a gaming arcade and over the years the number of machines we have and sophistication of said machines as risen dramatically to the level where I wonder if the ESB supply is fit for purpose with the bill now coming in at roughly €750 per month... This morning I got a letter from ESB Networks advising me of our responsibilities as customers connected to the Electricity distribution system so I can only guess its being flagged up at their end that I'm using too much electric.

It tells me that my MIC and Duos tariff group will determine my capacity charges, can I find these out for myself or is it just a ring an electrician straight away scenario? Its single phase by the way and finally if it is not fit for purpose what is the likely next step and how much will it cost??

Contact electricitysaverireland.com they specialise in lowering electricity costs for firms like yours, they are based in Armagh and Dundalk.

I switch providers regularly so its not the cost I'm interested in rather that the set up isn't up to coping with the load that's being placed on it...

[laoislad]

I know Laoislad is an electrician so if he or anyone else can help I'd appreciate.

I run a gaming arcade and over the years the number of machines we have and sophistication of said machines as risen dramatically to the level where I wonder if the ESB supply is fit for purpose with the bill now coming in at roughly €750 per month... This morning I got a letter from ESB Networks advising me of our responsibilities as customers connected to the Electricity distribution system so I can only guess its being flagged up at their end that I'm using too much electric.

It tells me that my MIC and Duos tariff group will determine my capacity charges, can I find these out for myself or is it just a ring an electrician straight away scenario? Its single phase by the way and finally if it is not fit for purpose what is the likely next step and how much will it cost??

OK let's break it down.
MIC is the max import capacity. Which basically means what the connection you have at the moment can take on full load.
I would assume if you are single phase then you have at the very most a 100amp connection. Most domestic houses would be 63amp so I'm guessing yours would be this as it's a commercial premises though it may not be higher,maybe 80amps?
Duos is what category this connection falls into.
Here's a table to help you decide.. Sorry about the long Web address I'm on my phone and don't know how to shorten it

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.esb.ie/esbnetworks/en/commercial-downloads/description_duos_mcc.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwioo9nzxNnKAhUFYA4KHXDxBRAQFggkMAA&usg=AFQjCNHUT3k30c5u1mM35sALDtb6_wNGfQ

It would be my guess that you are DG6? Would you agree?

I don't know how this relates to ESB pricing and if you got 3 phase installed would it bring down the price by placing you in a different duos category,but I'm sure each category has its own pricing tariff.
Putting in 3phase won't reduce the overall load, it will just spread the load across 3 phases of say 63amps rather than one fuse taking all the load.
You could now of course install many more machines if you so wished as you would have a much larger capacity.

Have you thought about reducing your load?  I persume you have lights running nearly 24/7?  Changing these to Led will help considerably. There are other ways of reducing your total usage also if you want any advice on that as I do a lot of energy saving work or anything else just  let me know.
Hope some of that helps.

[Boycey]

Thanks for the reply

Actually on looking again the letter tells me my MIC is 15 kVA and DUoS is DG5 as opposed to DG6 that you said. Where do I find the amp connection? in the meter cabinet somewhere I guess??

Obviously I'm interested in anything that brings the price down but in the immediate term I'd be more interested in finding out is the thing fit for purpose as it is if that makes any sense? I mean if the load is too big am I in danger of the whole thing grinding to a shuddering halt some fine day? We also bought a machine for a lot of money about 12months ago and it has been beset with troubles and its got to the stage where I'm not believing that its all down to the machine but rather there is something in the environment that's causing it that's why I considered the electric as being a possible source of the problem.

[laoislad]

What you need to do is get someone to put an amp meter on your incoming supply when you are at your busiest time, this should give you a fair Idea of what you are pulling at near full load.
Find your main fuse board, the main switch on that should have a figure wrote on it.  It's possible you are only 63amps I couldn't be sure without looking myself obviously.
There is some tolerance of course. Just because your main fuse is 63amp doesn't mean it will blow as soon as you reach  63amps load. You'll probably reach 70+ before you'll get problems. The worst I have seen was on a farm yard down in Cork. I was installing energy monitors for An Teagasc and the farm was pulling 92amps on a 63amp fuse! But in theory yes you could be in danger of everything just going bang one day.
As I said you really need to measure the load when you have most equipment turned on.
It sounds like you need 3ph to be honest.

[Tony Baloney]

Laoislad my outside breaker keeps tripping (the one in the meter box with the incomer). Any ideas? When it trips it can mostly be switched back on without issue but sometimes it repeatedly trips 4 or 5 times and then comes on. All breakers inside the house are on. Fault in the box somewhere or load coming from the transformer on the pole near the house?

[laoislad]

Laoislad my outside breaker keeps tripping (the one in the meter box with the incomer). Any ideas? When it trips it can mostly be switched back on without issue but sometimes it repeatedly trips 4 or 5 times and then comes on. All breakers inside the house are on. Fault in the box somewhere or load coming from the transformer on the pole near the house?

What's it rated at? Though you shouldn't really be overloading the main breaker.I'd be getting on to your ESB(Or whatever ye call them up there) to have a look simply because it is in the meter box. Could be a surge from transformer or something like loose connections or an earth fault or any number of things to be honest.
Have you noticed any patterns of when it trips or is it random? What I mean is,would it trip when ye are all there and there could be a load of things switched on at once like washing machine,dishwasher etc.
Main breakers shouldn't really be tripping as most would be rated at 63amp or more.

[Tony Baloney]

Laoislad my outside breaker keeps tripping (the one in the meter box with the incomer). Any ideas? When it trips it can mostly be switched back on without issue but sometimes it repeatedly trips 4 or 5 times and then comes on. All breakers inside the house are on. Fault in the box somewhere or load coming from the transformer on the pole near the house?

What's it rated at? Though you shouldn't really be overloading the main breaker.I'd be getting on to your ESB(Or whatever ye call them up there) to have a look simply because it is in the meter box. Could be a surge from transformer or something like loose connections or an earth fault or any number of things to be honest.
Have you noticed any patterns of when it trips or is it random? What I mean is,would it trip when ye are all there and there could be a load of things switched on at once like washing machine,dishwasher etc.
Main breakers shouldn't really be tripping as most would be rated at 63amp or more.

No I asked the missus as mostly happens when I'm out but nothing unusual. I'll contact Power NI.

[LeoMc]

Laoislad my outside breaker keeps tripping (the one in the meter box with the incomer). Any ideas? When it trips it can mostly be switched back on without issue but sometimes it repeatedly trips 4 or 5 times and then comes on. All breakers inside the house are on. Fault in the box somewhere or load coming from the transformer on the pole near the house?

What's it rated at? Though you shouldn't really be overloading the main breaker.I'd be getting on to your ESB(Or whatever ye call them up there) to have a look simply because it is in the meter box. Could be a surge from transformer or something like loose connections or an earth fault or any number of things to be honest.
Have you noticed any patterns of when it trips or is it random? What I mean is,would it trip when ye are all there and there could be a load of things switched on at once like washing machine,dishwasher etc.
Main breakers shouldn't really be tripping as most would be rated at 63amp or more.

No I asked the missus as mostly happens when I'm out but nothing unusual. I'll contact Power NI.

Had a similar issue a couple of years back, no pattern to it. I always needed to bring the load back up gradually, turning off all switches, resetting the main trip and turning on the switches 1 at a time. It turned out to be a faulty trip switch. The trip was replaced and the issue went away.

[Tony Baloney]

Cheers Leo. It's only about once a week at present (the missus said it's usually a Sunday). I mentioned that it might be because that's the only day she uses the oven which didn't go down too well 

[Ball Hopper]

Cheers Leo. It's only about once a week at present (the missus said it's usually a Sunday). I mentioned that it might be because that's the only day she uses the oven which didn't go down too well 

What other electrical devices does she handle?  Ironing while oven is on?  I'd be quizzing her on items that the batteries need recharging on as well!!!

I lived in Italy for a spell and I could not put the electric kettle on at the same time the washing machine was on, as the draw was enough to trip the breaker.  I think that was intentional by the power company to avoid peak usage though, rather than any sub-par installations.