Single Phase Electrical Wiring Installation in Home - NEC & IEC
Single Phase 120V/230V Distribution and Panel Board Wiring in Home
Single Phase wiring installation is the most common wiring in residential buildings. In Single Phase supply (230V in UK, EU and 120V & 240V in the US & Canada), there are two (one is Line (aka Phase, Hot or Live) and the other one is Neutral) incoming cables from the utility poles to the kWh energy meter and then directly connected to the main distribution board (Consumer unit).
In this step by step tutorial, we will show how to wire a Single Phase Consumer Unit Installation in home from Utility Pole to a Single Phase Energy Meter & Single Phase Distribution board and then How to connect Single Phase Loads in single Phase Wiring Distribution System in home electric supply system.
Before going into details, you will have to know what is a Single Phase and Three Phase Supply, their applications as well as the role of RCD, MCB, MCCB, CB, DB, MDB, Final and Sub Circuits, Fuses, Switches etc. which is already discussed in our previous electrical wiring installation tutorials.
for single phase 120V and split phase or 240V, the secondary winging of the distribution transformer mounted on the utility pole is center-tapped i.e. two hot wires (Hot 1 and Hot 2) and the center wire as Neutral. This way, the voltage level between Hot and Neutral is 120V single phase and the voltage between two hots (Hot 1 & Hot 2) is 240V single phase.
In a Three Phase Wiring Distribution System (Star Connection i.e. 3 Phase, 4 Wire System); The power and distribution transformers may be wired in Star (Y) or Delta configuration). For example, the basic configuration for single phase and three phase system in the UK is 230V/400V where the primary of the distribution transformer mounted on the utility pole is connected in Delta Connection while the secondary is connected in Star or Y Connection.
This way, the voltage between any phase and neutral is 230V single phase, while the voltage level between three lines is 400V three phase.
How to Wire Single Phase Main Distribution Board?
To Wire and install a single phase consumer unit for electric supply distribution in multi sections of a house, follow the steps given below:
Connect the Incoming Live and Neutral (L and N) wires from the electric utility pole to the Single Phase Energy meter. If you are not sure how to do it, here is a step by step tutorial on How To Wire a Single Phase Energy meter).
Connect the Incoming Live and Neutral (L and N) Wires to the 2 Pole Molded Case Circuit Breaker “MCCB” as shown in fig 1. It will be used as a main switch for all sections in the home.
Connect the MCCB to the Double Pole MCB’s, RCD, Single Pole MCBs respectively for each section and the outgoings wires and cable to the sub circuits and final sub circuits. Do the same steps for each section (3 Switch boards in our case). Keep in mind that proper connection should be done for Neutral and Live wires in the whole system as shown in fig 1. If confused, wiring color codes for IEC and NEC are given below in the info section for both single phase and three phase wiring.
Now, connect the electrical appliances and appliances with the Earth link terminal which leads to the earth electrode in the earthing and grounding system as shown in fig 1.
If you have to install a single phase mains distribution system in different sections around the home (large area), follow the following important things before doing so.
As we showed in the fig 1, use separate main breaker and boards for each section (3 different sections in our case). This way, electric supply would not be interpreted on other sections if one of the CB or MCB trips due to faults (Short Circuit etc.). The whole system will go off at once if we connect each section load (Fans, Light etc.) directly to the main distribution board.
If we use a single circuit instead of three circuits for each section, high current will flow through the whole circuit if the load of a single section increases which causes overheating of the wires and cables. So there may be a risk of electric fire and hazard as well due to overheated cables in the building. Moreover, due to more current flowing in the cable, voltage drop may be increased and there the appliances and appliances may not get the proper and rated voltage, so they mnight not work properly.
Use the proper cable size and rated main breaker. In other words, the main breaker should be capable of handling loads of all sections around the home. The same should be done for DP and SP breakers in sub distribution boards which should handle the load (Lighting points , washing machine, fans etc.) of the desired section for sub and final sub circuits.
Single Phase Electrical Wiring Installation in Home - NEC & IEC
Single Phase 120V/230V Distribution and Panel Board Wiring in Home
Single Phase wiring installation is the most common wiring in residential buildings. In Single Phase supply (230V in UK, EU and 120V & 240V in the US & Canada), there are two (one is Line (aka Phase, Hot or Live) and the other one is Neutral) incoming cables from the utility poles to the kWh energy meter and then directly connected to the main distribution board (Consumer unit).
In this step by step tutorial, we will show how to wire a Single Phase Consumer Unit Installation in home from Utility Pole to a Single Phase Energy Meter & Single Phase Distribution board and then How to connect Single Phase Loads in single Phase Wiring Distribution System in home electric supply system.
Before going into details, you will have to know what is a Single Phase and Three Phase Supply, their applications as well as the role of RCD, MCB, MCCB, CB, DB, MDB, Final and Sub Circuits, Fuses, Switches etc. which is already discussed in our previous electrical wiring installation tutorials.
for single phase 120V and split phase or 240V, the secondary winging of the distribution transformer mounted on the utility pole is center-tapped i.e. two hot wires (Hot 1 and Hot 2) and the center wire as Neutral. This way, the voltage level between Hot and Neutral is 120V single phase and the voltage between two hots (Hot 1 & Hot 2) is 240V single phase.
In a Three Phase Wiring Distribution System (Star Connection i.e. 3 Phase, 4 Wire System); The power and distribution transformers may be wired in Star (Y) or Delta configuration). For example, the basic configuration for single phase and three phase system in the UK is 230V/400V where the primary of the distribution transformer mounted on the utility pole is connected in Delta Connection while the secondary is connected in Star or Y Connection.
This way, the voltage between any phase and neutral is 230V single phase, while the voltage level between three lines is 400V three phase.
How to Wire Single Phase Main Distribution Board?
To Wire and install a single phase consumer unit for electric supply distribution in multi sections of a house, follow the steps given below:
Connect the Incoming Live and Neutral (L and N) wires from the electric utility pole to the Single Phase Energy meter. If you are not sure how to do it, here is a step by step tutorial on How To Wire a Single Phase Energy meter).
Connect the Incoming Live and Neutral (L and N) Wires to the 2 Pole Molded Case Circuit Breaker “MCCB” as shown in fig 1. It will be used as a main switch for all sections in the home.
Connect the MCCB to the Double Pole MCB’s, RCD, Single Pole MCBs respectively for each section and the outgoings wires and cable to the sub circuits and final sub circuits. Do the same steps for each section (3 Switch boards in our case). Keep in mind that proper connection should be done for Neutral and Live wires in the whole system as shown in fig 1. If confused, wiring color codes for IEC and NEC are given below in the info section for both single phase and three phase wiring.
Now, connect the electrical appliances and appliances with the Earth link terminal which leads to the earth electrode in the earthing and grounding system as shown in fig 1.
If you have to install a single phase mains distribution system in different sections around the home (large area), follow the following important things before doing so.
As we showed in the fig 1, use separate main breaker and boards for each section (3 different sections in our case). This way, electric supply would not be interpreted on other sections if one of the CB or MCB trips due to faults (Short Circuit etc.). The whole system will go off at once if we connect each section load (Fans, Light etc.) directly to the main distribution board.
If we use a single circuit instead of three circuits for each section, high current will flow through the whole circuit if the load of a single section increases which causes overheating of the wires and cables. So there may be a risk of electric fire and hazard as well due to overheated cables in the building. Moreover, due to more current flowing in the cable, voltage drop may be increased and there the appliances and appliances may not get the proper and rated voltage, so they mnight not work properly.
Use the proper cable size and rated main breaker. In other words, the main breaker should be capable of handling loads of all sections around the home. The same should be done for DP and SP breakers in sub distribution boards which should handle the load (Lighting points , washing machine, fans etc.) of the desired section for sub and final sub circuits.
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