ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades AS/NZS 3000:2007 now released

It's weird how in some countries to regulations keep getting stricter and stricter (Germany, to some extent Austria) and in others just seem to slip down...

We're now up to 10mm2 minimum requirement for a 3x25A feeder and I'm fairly sure it won't be long until this is raised to 16mm2 "to meet future demand" while the PoCo will still only accept 25A fuses...

Ragnar,
There are still houses here that have the water heated by a space heater, most of these houses only have a 6mm2 single phase supply(for the electric range and a few lights and power points).
Only when the people in the house want an electric hot water cylinder installed, does the service line get upgraded to 16mm2.
With the way that electricity consumption is going, the world over, a decent minimum conductor size is warranted.
It's no problem to change a set of fuses, it is a lot harder to upgrade mains into buildings.
Believe me, I've done it a thousand times.

Erm... I've seen places with a 2.5(!)mm2 single phase supply! Fused 20A.
Sure it's easier to just replace a fuse... still, I don't like the idea of being forced to bury so much expensive copper I'm never going to use and even might have to replace it when it ever comes to using the extra capacity.
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Most of all, we're talking apartment here, that means it's maybe 5m, sometimes less of wire in conduit, no harm in putting in conduit large enough for 10 or even 16mm2 and just pulling larger wires whenever needed!

To put it in simple words: I'd feel pretty stupid if I put in 5x6mm2 for my single phase supply to be able to upgrade to 3 phase and when I want to upgrade to 3ph I only hear: "I'm sorry, you have to tear out all your nice extra wire and install 10mm2!" So, I don't go above code minumum in that regard.