A house has a three-phase supply, but only single-phase loads are connected. How should the distribution board be configured?
Distribute single-phase loads evenly across all three phases
When single-phase loads are supplied from a three-phase system, the governing principle is load balancing, that is sharing the total load as equally as possible among the three phases.
A balanced arrangement makes the current drawn by each of the three phases nearly equal, which in turn keeps the return current in the neutral small.
A small, balanced neutral current means less voltage unbalance between phases, less overheating of any single conductor and better overall use of the supply and the transformer.
Installing only a single-phase board, or using just one phase, wastes the capacity of the other two phases and forces the whole load onto one conductor.
Likewise connecting every load to one busbar overloads that phase while the remaining two sit idle, producing heavy unbalance, excess neutral current and possible tripping.
Only spreading the single-phase circuits evenly across L1, L2 and L3 achieves a balanced draw and safe, efficient operation.
Hence, the answer is Distribute single-phase loads evenly across all three phases.
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