I put 3 phase into my datacenter because I have a three phase generator and I knew eventually my load would be too big for a 1-phase generator and potentially too big for a 1-phase service.
I know of no reason why it would handle lightning any differently. It has a neutral/ground just like single phase. If you lose one phase and have nothing to detect that, bad things can happen. Same with single phase; we had a storm knock out the neutral wire at one of sites a few weeks ago. Water tower pumps on the same line made our voltage go between 70 and 250v at the 120v outlet. At our datacenter, the generator autotransfer swtich will switch to generator if we lose one of the three phases. You can get a whole-building lighting/surge supressor to go in your main panel too. If you have a tower, connect it's ground system to your service grounding system too. We're using about 15kw average/peak right now. It's pretty steady and only changes with the AC compressors going on/off. Learn your utility rules for demand and pricing. I just hooked up some hair dryers and ran them for 40 minutes to get us into the 20+kw peak category (medium business); higher monthly minimum but much cheaper per kwh rate. As for your retail, you can use a single phase panel on a three phase service, just realize you can't get 240v out of it. Your 120v circuits will be 120 degrees out of phase with each other instead of 180 degrees out of phase like on single phase. On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 11:31:41PM -0400, Robert West wrote: > Putting together a new NOC. The new NOC is in an older warehouse and we > ripped out ALL the crazy wiring and the multiple electrical panels. Total > gut job. Installed a single phase electrical panel for the retail and > service area in the front but we have three phase coming into the building. > Electrician uncle Dude, 80+ years, tells me that three phase protects > against power surges since it adds another transformer. > > > > My question is, would installing a three phase panel for the NOC be a > proactive thing? Advantageous against the great lightning and idiotic power > company Godz? (GODZ Rock And Roll Machine) > > > > Old location was all three phase and we never had one lick of trouble Not > one. Would this be the reason or would it be just a stroke of luck, one > that didn't involve the lottery.. Figures. > > > > Bob- > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- /* Jason Philbrook | Midcoast Internet Solutions - Wireless and DSL KB1IOJ | Broadband Internet Access, Dialup, and Hosting http://f64.nu/ | for Midcoast Maine http://www.midcoast.com/ */ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
