Three phase vs single phase

[Solarfan]

Hi guys - I really want to get going with this, do you perhaps know of a decent contractor in Pretoria (or can I convince anybody to come and spend a day in lovely Pretoria to do this for me)?

[ACEsterhuizen]

You can also contact the ECA they will give reputable contractors in your area.

[Dave A]

your main switch is 50 amps 3 phase. (3 x single pole breakers are used which is not compliant)

You know what gets me about this sort of thing - how did that ever happen in the first place?

[Solarfan]

Good morning Dave - if I can hazard a guess. I appointed an architect who was an old school friend of mine to design the house and to supervise the construction - i.e. manage all the sub-contractors etc. and inspect the work to ensure up to standard. A year or two after building the house (and after my old school mate architect suddenly became unavailable) I started finding out that instead of appointing competent sub-contractors he appointed various parties who overcharged me (with his consent and with the full knowledge and consent of the QS) and then gave him and the (QS) a kick-back (while my mate told me that he put the work out to tender and appointed sub-contractors who has an excellent reputation and track record).
Don't even ask me about the quality of the waterproofing at my house - had to completely redo it about 5 years after the house was built as considerable cost (flat concrete roof and waterproofing under balcony floors - I had to rip up all the tiles and start from scratch), the quality of the paint which was used (lasted all of 3 years), the wood which was used in building all cupboards etc etc.
End result - I still don't even have a wiring diagram for the house (for some reason it seems that no-one is available all of a sudden), and had to redo a lot of the work performed by the subcontractors. Now you can understand my cynicism when dealing with service providers - I don't really trust too many people anymore (which is why I am on this site asking for referrals to someone in Pta who will do a quality job).
Lesson learned: Next time - be very aware of what happens during the building phase, get external inspectors to sign-off on all work done, most important don't trust anybody, especially old friends, get everything in writing from everybody

[AndyD]

I know this won't be much consolation but that's an appauling tale that unfortunately happens more often than you might think. I can only hope you can find a decent electrical contractor in your area. I can only suggest you keep asking around and hopefully you get a name that's recommended by more than one person. Maybe try your largest local electrical contractor, go speak to them personally and get 2 or 3 names of who they consider their best contractors for your type of work then cross reference those names with the ECA as suggested above.

[Lourens.dL]

Just a quick question, why MUST the electrician be registered with ECA? Surely if he is registered with Dept. of Labour as contractor it is enough?

But back to OP's problem. You could put all you essential loads you want to run on solar power on the one phase and non essential loads like geyser / underfloor heating on the other phases. Essential loads could be lights and important plugs.

However, it normally is possible to wire a 3phase switch-over to be fed with one alternative supply phase. Obviously the proper protection must be in place.

Obviously a proper inspection of your DB will determine the best solution.

Posted with my Samsung Mobile Device

[Solarfan]

Good morning Lourens - from my perspective there is no reason why the person needs to be a member of the ECA, all I want is an experienced, knowledgeable and reliable person who can sort all this out for me. I cannot at the moment back-up the lights from my solar system because the stair lights (which have 2 switches - one downstairs and the other upstairs) are wired in a "interesting" fashion with the live coming from the downstairs DB and the neutral upstairs - would need to be sorted out before I can back up the lights. The solar backup is only connected to the upstairs plugs as all three phases go down to the bottom DB and I cannot connect to individual loads.
Like I said - Need someone with extensive experience and who is old-school enough to still take pride in his work (and who is looking for an interesting challenge!) to spend some time to sort out this mess