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Mains Upgrade- Usually FREE in UK.

R

Roy.K.Riches

pfm Member
Here is a FREE Hi-Fi sonic upgrade.

Try this and it should be FREE to most of you (UK). If you do not already have a 100Amp Incommer Main Fuse supplied by your Electricity Supplier, but have one of 60Amp or 80Amp then have it upgraded to the 100Amp.
Just tell them you intend to fit an 11 Kilowatt power shower, and could they please change the Incommer Mains fuse to 100Amps. The Electricity Supplier will usually do this for FREE.

Generally most dwellings over 15years old will NOT have the 100Amp fuse, but one of lower Value, possibly 80Amp or 60Amp. Dwellings built earlier than 1965 generally have 60Amp Incommer fuses fitted. If it is not 100Amps then get it changed - usually for FREE in the UK. What are you waiting for? IT IS USUALLY FREE! - good luck! ( if you get the chance, then do polish the 100A fuse and fuse-holder)
NB. If you get this work done DO INSIST that the Meter "Tail" cables, to and from the Meter, are 25mm2 cable. 16mm2 or lower WILL NOT DO. If installed correctly, people have reported an equivalent upgrade of a FlatCap (£500?). Upgrading from a 60Amp fuse to 100Amp fuse being the most marked.

Have fun
Best regards
Roy
 
What if you're not fitting a 11kilowat power shower, is there any danger involved in having the higher rated fuse?
 
Hmmm I can kind of imagine that in reality I would end up with three scenarios here -

1. Hello can you come and replace my fuse with a bigger one? - Sorry we dont do that! - Hence no change.

2. Hello can you come and replace my fuse with a bigger one? - Yes of course that will be £475 and you'll have to take a days holiday too! - Bugger off! - Hence no change.

3. Hello can you come and replace my fuse with a bigger one? - Yes of course that will be £475! - Ok fine, please do! - Still can't tell any difference and £475 down.

I always tend to get a tad worried by these breathless style postings. ;)
 
I always tend to get a tad worried by these breathless style postings.
Click to expand...
I think you can assume Roy knows what he's talking about - he does have a long and impressive track record in these matters. :)
 
If Roy Keane says that "This will make you play better football" I'd take it as read.

If Roy K Riches says "This will make your Hifi sound better " then it will.

Roy is particularly generous with his time, knowledge and experience in electrical matters. He has produced a wealth of literature in this area.

To the best of my knowledge, not one person that has taken his advice regrets doing do.

So Nerrr to the doubters.

Regards

Mike
 
Got to say I'm a tad dubious as well. A good friend has installed two electric shower units and all that was required was a 45amp spur, no change to the 60amp-house fuse was needed.

Over to you Roy.


Please note, I am not saying it won't improve the sound, a few years back the meter tails were replaced whilst I was out, and I noticed a big improvement is sound quality without knowing anything had been done.
 
FIrstly Roy is right about the 100amp fuse, well worth the effort, Mad as it appears, polishing the fuse contacts and upping the fuse value brings benefits.

Secondly I checked with my local electrician and yes you do need the the 100 amp fuse for a power shower and yes the local electricity board will replace it for free. I believe this is becasue the fuse is "outside" the house and therefore part of their supply chain in the sealed meter box.
 
What a bunch of whingers!

The simple fact is that most houses over 15 years old were built without anyone foreseeing any additional electrical requirement in the future. Underfloor heating, power showers, several TV's, Skybox, tumble dryers etc. - all pretty much recent and all becoming increasingly common.

I was unable to go beyond an 80 amp fuse (from a 60 amp) as it was not possible to upgrade the tails however I was able to clean the fuse and it's holder when the good people from the electricity board came to do the work. Yes it was free and yes, the improvement was substantial.

If you don't want to do it, don't bother but certainly don't waste everyone's time by posting pessimistic and uninformed views.

I should add that the electrician who came to do the work discovered that the original fuse holder was loose and there was evidence of arcing. Irrespective of any sonic improvements, I was extremely relieved to know that this safety issue had been resolved.
 
Unfortunately, if you are lucky enough to live in our great capital you do have to pay. I did 60W > 80W. A small but noticable improvement and well worthwhile. Similar in margin to grey>black burndy. IIRC, going to 100W would have required a new fuse box and rewiring. Even if you pay a sparkie this is still a very cost-effective upgrade compared to the price of a better box power supply.
 
Roy is spot on. My house was built in the 60's and fitted with a 60 amp mains fuse. After installing an electric shower I noticed some months later that a black tar like substance was leaking from the mains fuse holder. I was given a phone number by an electrician who came round to fit some downlights. It was for a department that sorts out any problems to do with mains fuses. Two guys came around, ex electricity board employees both aged around 65, and said I had a "leaking lilly" and promptly fitted a nice new 100 amp mains fuse for me. As Roy states people have a much higher elctricity demand now than they did 20 or 40 years ago. This is a free service. As far as I am aware nobody else, even electricians, are allowed to mess with your mains fuse.
I immediately noticed an improvement in sound quality and deeper silences between music. A free upgrade....cant be bad.

Regards

Phil
 
You can't always get a 100A fuse - it depends on what the local electricity demand is like relative to supply and the size of your incoming cabling.

I asked about this earlier this year when a guy came to do the routine electricity meter exchange.

I already had 80A but if I'd wanted any more I'd have had to get a 3 phase supply (at incredible cost , and you'd still only get 80A per phase). I think 80A was installed when my predecessors had an electirc shower fitted, and they'd mentioned to me at the time of the sale that it wasn't as powerful as they'd have liked due to restrictions on the incoming supply.

Oh the joys of living out in the sticks !
 
I recently went the whole hog, with mains upgrade, following Roys advice (given freely)---100A fuse, dedicated memera cu, 10mm cable spurs, homemade hydra.Without doubt the cheapest and best upgrade to my system i have made, hence my Russ Andrews kit is on e-bay at the moment.

Roy, thanks for the detailed e-mail you sent me,without these i would still be two upgrades behind.

Mike.
 
Thanks for the tip Roy and followers.

How can I find out what fuse I have, will the electricity board have a record or will they have to call round?

There was an old 6.8 kw shower put into the house around 10 years ago, so they might have changed the fuse then, but given that I have just had a 9.8kw shower installed, with 10mm cabling, I am sure its worth a shot.

Incidentally the electrician who installed the shower did a better job than the one who installed my 6mm spurs for the hifi based on your recommendations of about 3 years ago.
 
cnc
The mains fuse is normally in the meter cupboard, mine was black and about the size of a matchbox, with a lead seal on it, the cover was marked 100A. I got the electrician to check and show me it, although really it was totally obvious once i knew what it was, it is by far the smallest box in the cupboard.

I expect if you have a look yourself it will be easy to identify,they only seem to use three sizes, either 60, 80 or 100amp.

Regards Mike.
 
Instead of the shower being supplied with hot water from a header tank, it is fed with cold water which is heated by an electric element as it passes through the shower unit. Obviously needs a chunky power feed typically 7-10 Kw to heat that amount of water that quickly.....and some of the units also have a pump to further increase the pressure of the water.
 
Thanks for the explanation Jo. We have similar devices here in the states though the old-fashioned "water heater" still rules. I suspect our water heater is much like your header tank.

regards,

dave
 
In my previous abode I feigned the need of a sauna to my local power company. They replaced the pole-mounted transformer with a bigger one (200 A) and ran some extra heavy duty wire between it and the mains distibution unit (which I had done up with heavy duty copper busses). The results were not too far from those going from an 82/Supercap to a 52/Supercap, at a fraction of the price. Now somebody is probably plugging in a floorlamp into my dedicated 100A clean feed supply to the once-audioroom.
 
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