The main switchboard feeding my house is an old unit installed on a utility pole in my yard. It feeds ONLY my house.
Now, the house has been electrically renovated recently with a high quality breaker panel, and I’m getting the house grounded this month. How much can the external switchboard (not sure if this is the correct term) affect the mains quality of the house? It uses those bulky, old, big ceramic fuses.
I asked an electrician and inquired if installing expensive fuses inside the house can be bottlenecked by the old switchboard and he said no, it won’t make much of a difference - it’s most important what I do inside the house.
Thoughts?
Yes the cabling feeding your home has an effect. However, most utilities frown on changes. A PSAudio power plant will fix that. There are interesting videos about Japanese audiophile’s paying for better transformers and wiring.
Hmm, well, I doubt anyone would have any nay-say on me changing the switchboard since it’s feeding only my home in a very sparsely populated area.
The cabling feeding my home is fine, it’s just the main external switchboard that is very antique.
And to clarify - this is just the switchboard, no transformers - the local main MAIN distribution center with transformers is much farther.
Hmm my guess is that as a matter of simplicity and and fiscal prudence, a Powerplant would get you there cheaper and faster. My transformer sits on my lot 20 feet from my front door. Our wiring is underground. It hums like an angry bee. There is 60hz hum and then there is my transformer. It’s also a serious source of distortion. When I inquired about fixing it, I was told that it would only happen if there was a catastrophic failure. Total harmonic distortion is irrelevant to the supply of electricity.
A Powerplant I’d love to have - even a P3. Will invest in the future. But I also know that Powerplants perform best when they’re fed best.
If I was a millionaire I’d have my mains fed through thick gauge silver wire all the way from the transformer up to my outlets. (Why isn’t this a thing among millionaire audiophiles? Hahah)
If I was a billionaire, I’d have my mains fed through a pipe of liquid nitrogen cooled superconductor routed to my house from the nearest nuclear power station’s primary feed.
A transformer 20 feet from the house would be miserable. Mine is 100+ feet away and hums enough to be heard at 20 feet.
Fortunately I cannot hear it at the house and my incoming THD is only 2.5%.
My THD is 2.9 and up. We get strange THD spikes and there are no commercial users in the area. So the original comment from my utility was just the usual. They said commercial mains pollution and I said where?
I do not get any spikes, just a wandering value centering around 2.5%. I’m the only one on my transformer and the nearest house is over a quarter mile away. Nothing commercial for miles.
I imagine the utility’s attitude is you are fine if your TV and refrigerator work.
Power plants come available on the second hand market regularly at good prices. You don’t need the latest, greatest and largest. I have a P5 doing great work on my sources. It was cheap. Warranty is transferrable. So your coverage on a more recent build. Be warned, I started with a P5 now I’m all in PSAudio. It’s bad for your pocketbook and depending on you marriage it could be trying.
Our transformers are about 33 years old. They’re probably close to the EOL threshold. But in true fashion of a public utility, a failure is the only true need for a replacement. They’re failing, as I see nice new boxes on my dog walking adventures.
Just to clarify - how much do the big ceramic knob fuses in the switchboard affect the mains of the house being fed through its feed? I mean, they’re seriously antique fuse technology if you compare them to something like an SR Orange. And they’re in the main switchboard… What is the consensus on this?
I’m in Canada but the same mentality is prevalent. When we had transformers on poles, they would go poof in sparks and a fireball when they failed. These have 3/8 inches steel plate boxes. Your clue that they failed is the overpowering smell of burnt insulation and the melted innards.
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I wonder why do not people feel the need to replace antiquated parts of their neighbourhoods’ electrical facilities before they fail.
Hypothetically, let’s say I’d exchange the old rusty switchboard to a military grade unit.
Would my hifi sound better?