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American 240V outlets are two-phase (two hot plus neutral). A European 240V appliance (which is one hot plus neutral) cannot safely be plugged in to such an ou
by vonmoltke 7y ago
American 240V outlets are two-phase (two hot plus neutral). A European 240V appliance (which is one hot plus neutral) cannot safely be plugged in to such an outlet.
- rootusrootus 7y agoUnited States 240V is single phase. 120V is split phase, with the neutral drawn from the middle of the coil.
- vonmoltke 7y agoYou're right, I was confusing that with true multi-phase power.
- bartwe 7y agoEuropean plugs aren't aware of any hot/neutral polarity and devices are not built to treat a neutral phase differently from a hot phase. A separate grounding wire is used for safety.
- vonmoltke 7y agoI'm assuming most European appliances use double-pole switches?
- magduf 7y ago>American 240V outlets are two-phase (two hot plus neutral). No, that's single-phase. The "phase" is measured across the hot wires; the wire itself isn't the phase. There's no such thing as "two-phase".
- vonmoltke 7y agoYeah, I got confused because some people lazily refer to split phase as "two phase". Apparently I need a refresher session with my textbooks. :(
- MertsA 7y agoActually there is janky 90 degrees out of phase two phase power. Who knows if there's anywhere still using it but it was a thing.