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Can we stop calling it 220?

mrb

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Can we please stop using the terms 110 and 220? Residential voltage in the USA has been 120/240 longer than I've been alive. Do you guys still refer to costco as Price Club? (i was alive for that)
 
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Gary S

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Don't expect 220 and 110 to ever go away. In some rural parts of the country, that is all the voltage they get at the end of the line.
 
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mrb

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Don't expect 220 and 110 to ever go away. In some rural parts of the country, that is all the voltage they get at the end of the line.

nominal voltages are still 120/240.....



I'm going to be installing some 118v plugs on the wall in my garage and will be running them with yellow wire.
 
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mrb

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Yeah, 220, 221 Whatever it takes!! :lol_hitti

saw some job specs once that called for 243 Phase. (obviously a phone call was involved and the person on the receiving end did not know electricity)
 

Ford12508

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It kind of irks me too. My boss always says "this is a 220V" and I say "This guy should really call the electric company if he is getting that much voltage drop"
 

larry_g

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I'll change just as soon as the 2X4 is called by its real dim's. Does this confuse you so that you cannot understand what is being talked about? The reality here is that until until the old die off and the youngsters take over you will run into people who use common old terms.

lg
no neat sig line
 

nate379

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Thank You! I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I have lived in many houses all over the US over the years and I have NEVER seen anything close to 220v at the main.
 
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mrb

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Can we stop calling it "single phase" too?

Or am I alone in believing it's 2 phases?

actually it really is single phase. The phase does not refer to how many hot wires there are. There is a two phase system, but is mostly gone. I know there is still some in san francisco, and probably some old industrial areas. Two phase actually uses 4 wires. Look up Scott-T Transformer to see how two phase is connected to three phase.
 

daveroy

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OK, if we are going to go that far with it...
Then why is the + end/post of a battery the hot side which has an excess of electrons meaning it has a Negative charge! (I know the real answer, but it still confuses the heck out of high school physics students every year!)
 

djjsr

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I was working on one of my machines the other day that had 114V on each hot leg so I have 228 instead of 240. I want to call the power company and tell them to either send me the volts I'm missing or cut 5% off my bill.

Or maybe the meter slows down, in which case they can cut another 8 volts and it would be ok by me. :D:D:D
 

Berserker

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Can we stop calling it "single phase" too?

Or am I alone in believing it's 2 phases?

There are set ups that are 120 phase to phase and 67 to ground. Not in residential. Then you got 208 3 phase, which gives you 120 single phase.



I used to do contracts with a utility, there is a pretty big + - then can give you for voltage.
 

Jack Olsen

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I think the accepted delivery for 120/240 is +/- 10%. But 120/240 is still the best thing to call it.

For what it's worth, my Porsche engine is not really a boxer, in spite of its 180°-V architecture.
 
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mrb

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There are set ups that are 120 phase to phase and 67 to ground. Not in residential. Then you got 208 3 phase, which gives you 120 single phase.



I used to do contracts with a utility, there is a pretty big + - then can give you for voltage.

i dont know about where you are, but here there is a somewhat narrow range of delivered voltage. +/- 3 % or something like that.
 
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mrb

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There are set ups that are 120 phase to phase and 67 to ground.

sometimes used in recording studios, they call it 'balanced power'. Also isolated hospital operating room power I think. So no phase is grounded.
 

ddawg16

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actually it really is single phase. The phase does not refer to how many hot wires there are. There is a two phase system, but is mostly gone. I know there is still some in san francisco, and probably some old industrial areas. Two phase actually uses 4 wires. Look up Scott-T Transformer to see how two phase is connected to three phase.

Well...it really depends on how you look at it.....if it's 220/221 (love that line from "Mr Mom")...and a neutral is involve....one leg of the 240 is actually 180 deg out of phase with the other leg.....

All depends on where you are measuring from......give me a 2 channel O-Scope and I could show you 2 different phases......

Yea...I know....I'm making it more complicated that it has to be....

But your right....it's single phase...
 

54FordPanel

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Ok, single phase it is.

How about "3-way switches". I think they are 2-way switches; it either throws the power this way, or that way.

Anybody with me on that one?
 
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A_Pmech

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Can we please stop using the terms 110 and 220? Residential voltage in the USA has been 120/240 longer than I've been alive. Do you guys still refer to costco as Price Club? (i was alive for that)

*Guilty*

Of course, all the locals here refer to my place by the name of the family that got the property in the first Illinois land grant.

:lol:
 

JimDon

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Agree on the 120, 240 v reference, not the old school way. And it is single phase with each hot referred to as a "leg."

The other thing that gets me is how so many people think that in a 240V circuit the ground acts as the neutral. No, the ground is the ground, it is not a neutral and will never be a neutral. A neutral is a CURRENT CARRYING conductor. You can get yourself a really bad burn off a neutral. (Do not ask me how I know this.) The ground is the safety valve, not a current carrying conductor. When you have a 4-wire 240V application, there are two 120V legs, a ground, and a neutral that supplies the return path on one of the
120V legs.
JimDon
 

Berserker

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i dont know about where you are, but here there is a somewhat narrow range of delivered voltage. +/- 3 % or something like that.
Do you actually know this?

It was a few years ago, but I thought it was higher. I was thinking closer to 10, but I can't remember. I was an industrial customer too.

But for example power is wielded at 138000, 3% of that is 4kV. At 26kV its 780 volts.


Just googled. This is from Florida. 6.6%

What is a voltage fluctuation?
A voltage fluctuation occurs when there is a dip or spike in the electrical flow to your home. The state of Florida requires that utilities normally operate within a range of +/- 8 volts (112 - 128) from standard voltage (120), but FPL prefers to keep this range within +/-6 volts (114 - 126). Fluctuations of more than 6 volts may cause your lights to dim or brighten.
 

Berserker

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sometimes used in recording studios, they call it 'balanced power'. Also isolated hospital operating room power I think. So no phase is grounded.

The orange outlets you see, are for isolated grounds. The ground is not shared with other equipment, and is ran straight back to the panel, if I remember right.



The 240 you get at your house is single phase. They get the 120 by center tapping the transformer.
 

MrMark

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However it is generated, two phases are created for the user, or the system wouldn't work electrically - and that's a fact. You can call it whatever you want, but there are two phases available for the user.
 

Berserker

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Single phase 240 is created by taking one phase of three phase system, and running it to a transformer to step it down. As far as A B C goes, it only uses 1 phase.
 

Berserker

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Maybe you need to make some diagrams and show her how it works, there are videos now a days too.
 

Alchymist

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120/240 is single phase. Get over it. If you need to addle your brain, why is a three way switch a single pole and a 4 way a double pole. Hint - count the number of terminals on a 3 way. What did you get?

As far as phase goes, figure out whats meant by 720 deg, and 843 deg compared to reference. Then you will understand phase.
 

Aceman

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POCOVoltages.jpg
 

MrMark

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What do you get when you put a load across two wires of the same phase and same amplitude?

Hint: the answer will reveal how many phases exist.

120/240 is single phase. Get over it. If you need to addle your brain, why is a three way switch a single pole and a 4 way a double pole. Hint - count the number of terminals on a 3 way. What did you get?

As far as phase goes, figure out whats meant by 720 deg, and 843 deg compared to reference. Then you will understand phase.
 
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UncleTed

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It is a generic term. Most commercial buildings are 3 phase delta or Wye. Meaning 208 phase to phase. 230 is what is in single phase panels, phase to phase.
So here we are, at 220 - which is the spec for neither.
 

JimDon

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With complete and many thanks to the Mike Holt Electrical Forum:



"Re: Phase A and Phase B in single phase wiring diagrams
Let's just write this off to the "What's in a name" philosophy. Call it phases A and B, or call it hot wires 1 and 2, or call it red and black, or call it Peter and Paul; it does not matter. It's still single phase. And when you connect to a 2 pole breaker, it does not matter which wire connects to which pole.
Charles E. Beck, P.E., Seattle"

Thank you Mike Holt and Thank you Charles E. Beck, PE
 

MrMark

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Charles E. Beck, needs to go back to school.

Have him answer the above question. 240V AC residential cannot exist without two phases.
 
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