Add to that our building at Racal also had 440v marine supply at a much
higher frequency provided by a large rotary converter in the utilities area
of the place. I bet that would hurt.

Brian

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"NY" wrote in message
o.uk...
"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
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When I've wired runs of 240v single phase 13A sockets in various
buildings on the farm I've always put them all on one phase so that there
is no danger of 415v phase to phase accidents when using things on
leads - am I being paranoid ?

I'm currently wiring up a Tractor Shed with runs of 13A sockets on
opposite walls 40 foot apart. It would be convenient to put them on
different phases not only to balance the load but also to free up a 'way'
in the breaker box. But this goes against my natural instinct.

..... what does the team think ?

You are right to be cautious about sockets on different phases. If you can
be sure that appliances on two different phases will not be connected
together (eg if they touch) then you should be fine.

I remember when our server lab at work was rewired, they put each bench on
a different phase. Goodness knows why. There were big signs up saying
don't connect (eg by USB, Ethernet or RS232) devices that are plugged into
different benches - which was a confounded nuisance if the only spare
socket for a temporary appliance happens to be on a bench (phase) that's
different to the one of the computer that you want to plug the appliance
into.

Obviously in normal circumstances it would be absolutely fine, but there
was always the "it will never happen" case of both appliances becoming
live (each on a different phase) at the same time. If 240V hurts like hell
and may be fatal, 415V will hurt more and be "even more fatal".