Thanks for that Jon. But there is something you can do about it: move
supplier, complain to your current supplier, to Ofgen etc ...
And, don't you start sounding like an American broadcaster, asking your own
questions ....
... or Conservative MP :-)
Chris
On 25 Feb 2010, at 20:26, Jon Mitchell wrote:
> FWIW, we looked into this at work recently - problems at some of our sites
> with very low voltage. UK spec was changed recently to harmonise across
> Europe. I don't have the exact figures to hand, but it used to be something
> like 220v in Europe and 240v in UK. Now it is 230v in UK and the rest of
> Europe. How did they get away without changing all of the National Grid,
> substations, etc. ? They fudged the error-factor so now UK is something
> like 230v +15%/-6% and rest of Europe is something like 230v +6%/-15%.
> Phase is much more accurately defined, and has a far smaller margin before
> it becomes "out of spec" - but that was always the same across UK & Europe
> anyway. In reality, nothing has changed in the power supplied either in UK
> or rest of Europe, but now manufacturers have to cope with a wider voltage
> range if they want to sell products across Europe.
>
> Anyway, back to the point, yes - in theory the power companies are required
> to maintain a consistent voltage (within an alarmingly wide margin of
> error). In practise, however, they regularly do not maintain this.
> Especially in more rural areas. But who can do anything about it ? As
> someone else said here - the general attitude of the power companies is "you
> get what you're given".
>
> Does it suck ? Yes. Does it bother me ? A little. I know a couple of
> SERIOUS hi-fi nuts who have taken matters into their own hands and installed
> some serious power-conditioning units (basically, AC-DC-AC conversion) and
> run a separate ring-main just for their hi-fi components. Can I hear a
> difference ? Well, yes - but more to the point is that the cost of the
> hi-fi kit in question means it is worth a sizeable investment in power
> conditioning to stop it going boom when the power drops (or rises) out of
> spec.
>
> Gosh. 2 topics in a week that I can reply to with some experience ! What
> is this list coming to ... ;-)
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