On the Electrical main board at home,there is a rotator selector to choose between 3 lines. The guy who installed it said we could switch the line when power goes down on one and said we have ‘3phase’ power.Could someone explain what this arrangement is,I’m confused by what the guy said.

Question

I don’t necessarily understand how it can be termed 3 ph power,because we don’t simply get 3ph to homes as we please,right? Moreover we don’t have any heavy machinery that might even require it. Could someone explain how this arrangement works? Is it just switching between feeders like in a ring fed arrangement of the power system? Or is it actually 3ph power(?)

In: 4

Answer 1

If you’re choosing between 3 lines. Those lines would be your three phases. It seems strange that you would have to choose, as the lines all travel on the same poles. So if one line goes down, arguably so would the others.
I’m not sure what country you live in. Where I live it’s 3 phase on the pole and single phase to the houses.
I’m sorry not really a good explanation. I’m an electrician but I haven’t seen anything like that where I live.