On Sun, 7 Jul 2013 05:59:03 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

Hi gang,

AIUI, out in the road there are three live wires and one neutral. The phases of the lives are 120 degrees out of phase with one another. The potential difference between any two live wires is 440V. The potential difference between any live and neutral is 230V. Domestic supplies only tap one live and the neutral to give you a single phase supply, so if you want a 3 phase supply for a workshop or whatever, you have to get the leccy blokes in to dig up the road and tap you into one of the other live wires. Do I have that right?

No good tapping into just one of the other live wires you need two
more.

Five wires in total

L1
L2
L3
N
E

Plus a new three phase meter (or another two single phase ones)

and a big hole in your bank account