fergus

Been wondering for a while what kVA I need. All the more pertinent now with energy prices on the up and up and the standing charges do add up over a year. So, we have an american style side by side fridge freezer, in the winter we use the under floor heating, but not much if the sun has been shining. At the moment just 1 hour a night and only in the lounge. We have solar water with electric back up which is on for 1 hour at night, at this time of year. Then the usual cooking in evening, TV, hair dryer in the morning and kettle as and when.

Any idea how many kVA's we need. We have been slowly reducing it and have just gone down to 6.9kVA. Waiting to see if the smart meter pops off when we have all on at the same time. Just wondered what kVA other people are on?

liveaboard

I have 16kw 3-phase.

dingg

You'll probably be ok with 6.9

If the missus has the toaster, kettle, two ovens and an induction hob on at the same time, switchboard says no, other than that everything is fine, just needs a little bit of common sense, anything less than 6.9 is more restricted in terms of what you can run together.....

wellinever

I have the same use as you. UF heating/SS fridge but put n gas esquentador rather than solar immersion heater as back up. Everything else electric. Also use reverse AC for quick warm. And use 6.9Kw potencia, no problems for a year...and this winter now saving due to having only 6.9Kw

morro

I bought an air fryer and when I put it on it trips the box. I can put the oven on clean mode 300 C with no problem. I only have 3.45 and only had problems in the past with oven, toaster and kettle at the same time. So you learn! Is the Fryer faulty or do I need to move up to 6, just for the fryer !!!!!

BillBullock

Some cheap electrical items will trip your circuit breaker because of quality problems even though they are rated lower than your electricity supply.

RichardHenshall

Can you try the air fryer in another property (possibly with higher potência) to see if it trips there too? If so, I'd suspect your appliance is the problem.

morro

Good idea! I am back in Tavira next monday, I will go next door.

wellinever

LOL.not surprised.normal oven alone will use 3kw (some might get away with less but not much) toaster about 800watts (0.8kw), standard PT kettle at 2.1kw, so already you would be using
3+0.8+2.1 = 5kw, so surprised it doesnt trip without the airfryer, which are normally rated (depends how big it is) between 1.4kw and 1.7kw.
But easy to check, just look underneath it at the plate, it will tell you the power in watts, same with all appliances....

fergus

Thanks everyone for your replies. We are running at 6.9kVA now so will see what happens. It didn't suddenly go dark so under 'normal' conditions we seem to be okay. We will see how it goes once it gets colder and we need more heat.

sportpix

I’m now wondering whether I’m an adult or just starting out at primarily school. You turn stuff on when needed to cook, wash and clean then turn it off again and then at the end of the month you get an electric bill. Where did all this scientific stuff come from? I am clueless to what all this means 😩

wellinever

Well of course you are right in what you say, but for the average Brit, you have to remember that in the UK every household has around 18KW at their disposal, so most have never experienced the electricity cutting off due to using too much power at the same time. So there is no option in UK to take a reduced power supply, unlike Portugal.
Its all about using too much at the same time and tripping the system, which will always happen at the worst possible moment, in winter in the dark.....so people should just have a torch, easily at hand, and know the layout of their consumer unit....after they have turned off one of the items they had on.... .

liveaboard

The standing charge here is high, and variable depending on your maximum current; which actually doesn't make much sense. I pay a 350 a year before consuming a single watt, so that I can use my welding machine for a minute a week..

coleio

If it trips then check it's not the RCD trip due to faulty appliance rather than taking too much power/kW/kVA