What a hassle! For some reason which I am very sure I know why… my developer only supplies us with a one phase electric power into the house. Shocking eh? 

For this day this age, most of the houses in Malaysia are built with three phase!!! sigh…but, my developer went with one phase. It only makes sense since most equipment are getting more and more electric dependant. Even we humans are getting more electric dependant. Yes – we knew from the start that it is one phase before we buy. But, we love the location (well – more me than hub actually) and also it fulfilled most of our many requirement for a home. So, we went ahead with the purchase.

Anyway, back to topic…   

I don’t have the right qualification to tell you the technical difference between one phase and three phase but if you Google it, there’s plentiful answers online. So, this post will not be dwelling on the technicality but more on my personal opinion.

For me, one major problem I worry I might face with one phase is the constant tripping of electric. As far as I know / experienced and told by friend, if you have the tenancy to switch on more than 3 air-condition at the same time with one refrigerator and the usage of washing machine / dryer, it might prompt the electric to trip. I am very sure one phase is pretty sufficient for a daily routine at home.

But, my biggest concern is when you are throwing a house party (which I foresee us doing quite a fair bit in the future).  I have actually witness the circuit breaker explode and flamed up during one of my friend’s house party. Not a good thing to happen. It’s pretty dangerous too. So, hubby and I were pretty firm about changing to 3 phase.

And so, I would like to share with you my experience with the procedure to apply change from 1 phase to 3 phase inMalaysia. (Thankfully we learned it is at least equipped with 3 phase wiring from the sub station to our house. It is only from the meter to the DB inside which is one phase. IF your house doesn’t have that, the cost is even higher as the TNB people will need to patch one cable from the sub station to your house!!!)

Find a certified electric contractor. You can just ask your contractor and they will know who to find. (When we call the Tenaga / TNB, the electric utility company inMalaysia, we told that they only deal with a certified electric contract for this kind of changes)

The contractor will submit your IC and a form to TNB to start the process. You will need to increase your deposit to TNB

Once approved, TNB will send people over to change the meter outside your house to a 3 phase meter.

Contractor will replace the cable running from the meter outside to the DB inside with a 3 phase cable and also make the require changes in the DB to be able to handle 3 phase.

We are now waiting for the application to be approved. I wonder how long it will take…