Name:	JTenn -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/1/2016 3:58:31 PM

https://www.adaptelec.com/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&products_id=281

This is is a good link on household electrical. Houses in US are usually supplied with a 220volt service (110V per leg). True the AC voltage has a + - in respect to the sine wave of AC power but unlike DC circuits.

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/1/2016 9:21:07 PM

Some of the posts below really made me wonder what planet I'm on.  +110VAC and -110VAC???? Huh??  I wired my house when I built it, wired my dock for 220 VAC without any problems and never saw a -110VAC.  House wiring comes from the power pole with 2 each 110/120 VAC and a common and ground.  When you wire a 220 circuit breaker, you take both leads side by side off one 110 feed.....ain't no + or -.  BTW, don't miss the advantage of using 220 in long runs like to the dock.....it's called amperage.  220 cuts amperage in half for each hot wire which means you can reduce wire size and save a bunch of money.  Respect electricity, don't be afraid of it.

Name:	JTenn -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 8:18:30 AM (updated 11/2/2016 8:21:07 AM)

So true, there isn't + or - in AC . Plus don't forget voltage drop per foot of wire, this might help to determine wire size you need.

Name:	Shortbus -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 9:13:21 AM (updated 11/2/2016 10:00:34 AM)

Sixty times a second you have + and - .   It is correct if time is frozen at the right time.

For a split phase system, leg A or phase B might keep the electrician jokes to a minimum.

If you really want to blow your minds, go figure out power factor.

This is where the voltage and current peaks differ in time from each other.

Imaginary current is a real thing.  And impedances are complex.  Power can be apparent.

Curious?  Test for Ham Radio license...............

https://www.qrz.com/hamtest/

Name:	JTenn -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 2:45:43 PM

Your first statement is true as related to the AC sine wave, but unlike DC positive or negative.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 4:15:02 PM

Plus and minus is a misnomer of sorts.  Three wires come in to a residence.  One is neutral, or ground.  The other two are 110 volts on either side of ground, thus the + and -.  Could just as easily be termed above and below.  If you look at a service panel backplane you will see that it is arranged so breaker lugs alternate between the two 110s, and a 220 breaker rests on two adjacent lugs, producing a 220 volt potential difference.  Also, 220 is wired diferently, having two "hot" wires, connected to the breaker, one to each lug, plus ground, where a 110 has one hot, one neutral, and ground with the neutral and ground connected to the same bus at the service panel.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 4:51:43 PM

The +/- thing made me scratch my head too.  I figured it was just engineer speak above my pay grade and comprehension. I would have used black/white, but we know from archy and copper than I am a lunatic racist so naturally I would expre# it terms of black and white.

Trigger warning for snowflakes, the master electrician that showed me how to do home wiring showed me an outlet plug and pointed to the larger slot and said just remember the white goes on the right and it's bigger and better. He was black so it's not racist, or is it? Rhetorical question, of course it is.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 5:44:24 PM

Also, when wiring the common outlet plug, the black, or hot wire goes on the goldish side and the white wire goes on the silver side.  The gold side is the larger prong on the lamp or appliance plug.  One needs to be careful to maintain the hot side separate from the neutral.  Get them mixed up and you could be in for a surprise :-)

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/2/2016 6:28:58 PM

Yep.  Light to light and dark to dark, like the world used to be before folks fought and even died to change things till now our college snowflakes are demanding to be housed separately. Up is down. Night is day.  The world is hotter than ever and another ice age is upon us.

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/2/2016 9:17:10 PM

Now if you want to really confuse things, I lived in a southern city that required residential houses to meet the International Electrical Code, which required an extra ground wire....made no sense to me but cost a bundle.  BTW, my thinking on 60 cycle is the pulse goes from 110 VAC to 0, sixty time per second, not to -110 VAC, which is what the minus should mean.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/2/2016 10:01:09 PM

Now a true sine wave goes from zero to a positive value, then back to zero and then a negative value, then back to zero, thus completing one cycle.  The number of cycles over a given period of time determines its frequency 60 cycles per second, or Hertz in the US, 50 in Europe.  How far it deviates from zero determines its amplitude, expressed in volts.The beauty of AC over DC is the electrons really never go anywhere...they pull back an equal amount that they push forward, net zero.  D.C. relies on a steady stream of electrons in one direction.

in Charleston SC the 110 sockets appear to be installed upside down, with the ground lug on top and the hot and neutral on the bottom.  I thought they were wacko until I was given the reason for doing them that way.  I am curious if I was told right....can anyone verify the reason?

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/2/2016 11:14:17 PM

Because it has been overrun with old liberal hippies and yuppies and young milineial trust fund snowflakes? Obviously I do t have a clue besides you can't see it and it will "bite" you. Thus whole thread has been interesting and I am very curious as to the answer to your question.

Name:	Buteye -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/3/2016 12:48:38 AM

I think it is because if the plug is not all the way in and something metallic is dropped on top of the plug it will hit the ground instead of coming down across the two prongs. If I am right what is my prize?

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/3/2016 7:17:09 AM

Bingo!  As a prize you get to keep on providing inconvenient (to them) corrections to the three village liberals posts on the Off Topics section of the forum.

Name:	Buteye -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/3/2016 10:32:59 AM

Thanks. Can't think of a better prize.

Name:	alatraveler50 -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/3/2016 6:28:20 PM

Grounding pole up because when the wife yanks the vacuum cleaner plug out of the receptacle, the ground is the last thing that disconnects.  Straight out of the mouth of a GE engineer.

Name:	alatraveler50 -	Reply
Subject:	International Electrical Code
Date:	11/3/2016 6:43:58 PM (updated 11/3/2016 6:46:40 PM)

... and what Buteye said.  Give me a little break, it's only been 25 years ago and I can't remember what I had for breakfast.  But I do know that's how I wire all my receptacles.

I always get a kick out of going to the doctor's office and see Hubbell receptacles wire in 'smiley face' configuration and the Hubbell name is upside down.

Name:	Summer Lover -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/3/2016 9:43:14 PM

210, 220, what's the difference?

Name:	Casey -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/3/2016 10:52:52 PM

10

Name:	Shortbus -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	11/3/2016 11:10:00 PM (updated 11/3/2016 11:32:22 PM)

You too have earned the privilege of hammering the Three (communist) Stooges.

Feel free to hassle them liberally.............................

Just shocking

Name:	MotorMan -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	12/1/2016 10:16:05 PM

Voltage is square root of 165 or 117.+ a little. This is a target. My power is 128.  If the voltage is doubled, the Amps drop by 3/4. If you look up boat lifts, you will see some are 20 amps at 110 or 9.5 Amps at 220. The run power drops. All motors will start faster, run cooler, and last long on 220

Name:	MotorMan -	Reply
Subject:	Household electrical voltages
Date:	12/1/2016 11:57:58 PM

Sorry I said the wrong thing. Double voltage gives half the Amps but 3/4 less resistance allowing smaller wire.