5 ms·

In the US, the amount of three phase electricians that will work at a Residential home and not charge you an arm and a leg for it is vanishingly low, almost cer

In the US, the amount of three phase electricians that will work at a Residential home and not charge you an arm and a leg for it is vanishingly low, almost certainly not worth it.

mitthrowaway2 3y ago
That's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem. If residential three-phase electricity were commonplace, electricians would all happily handle it at their standard rates, your air conditioners and refrigerators would all be running on it.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  No? It clearly takes more training and has more liability since the consequences of a mistake are more serious. The average billable rate would inevitably be higher regardless.
  - jrockway 3y ago
    What kinds of mistakes are harmless at 120V @ 100A vs 400V @ 30A?
    - rootusrootus 3y ago
      Touching 120V with dry skin is nearly always harmless. 240V is considerably more exciting.
Blackthorn 3y ago
Maybe it's a little different for just a converter, but mine didn't have a problem installing a Phase Perfect and running a few three-phase outlets for it.
b3orn 3y ago
Wait, there are special electricians for three-phase in the US, is this like an additional certification or are the normal ones scared of three phases?
- kelnos 3y ago
  Not sure if there's an additional certification, but it would not surprise me at all that an electrician here would not want to work on a home with an unusual setup that they're not particularly familiar with.
- CapitalistCartr 3y ago
  Electricians specialize. Resi guys do residential and rarely to never handle 3 phase. I do commercial and light industrial because heavy industry isn't around here and I despise doing resi work. Three phase is usually run everywhere by the power co and a transformer (pole pig) converts to single phase near the residence.
- chinchilla2020 3y ago
  There isn't. But residential electricians are specialists. Then there are commercial and industrial ones, etc, etc.

In the US, the amount of three phase electricians that will work at a Residential home and not charge you an arm and a leg for it is vanishingly low, almost certainly not worth it.

mitthrowaway2 3y ago

That's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem. If residential three-phase electricity were commonplace, electricians would all happily handle it at their standard rates, your air conditioners and refrigerators would all be running on it.

MichaelZuo 3y ago
No? It clearly takes more training and has more liability since the consequences of a mistake are more serious. The average billable rate would inevitably be higher regardless.
- jrockway 3y ago
  What kinds of mistakes are harmless at 120V @ 100A vs 400V @ 30A?
  - rootusrootus 3y ago
    Touching 120V with dry skin is nearly always harmless. 240V is considerably more exciting.

Blackthorn 3y ago

Maybe it's a little different for just a converter, but mine didn't have a problem installing a Phase Perfect and running a few three-phase outlets for it.

b3orn 3y ago

Wait, there are special electricians for three-phase in the US, is this like an additional certification or are the normal ones scared of three phases?

kelnos 3y ago
Not sure if there's an additional certification, but it would not surprise me at all that an electrician here would not want to work on a home with an unusual setup that they're not particularly familiar with.
CapitalistCartr 3y ago
Electricians specialize. Resi guys do residential and rarely to never handle 3 phase. I do commercial and light industrial because heavy industry isn't around here and I despise doing resi work. Three phase is usually run everywhere by the power co and a transformer (pole pig) converts to single phase near the residence.
chinchilla2020 3y ago
There isn't. But residential electricians are specialists. Then there are commercial and industrial ones, etc, etc.