Just for knowledge sake: you are correct that there are 4 wires: 1 - hot 1 120 v 2 - hot 2 120 v 3 - neutral 4 - ground The hot 1 and 2 are 18

Just for knowledge sake: you are correct that there are 4 wires: 1 - hot 1 120 v 2 - hot 2 120 v 3 - neutral 4 - ground The hot 1 and 2 are 180 degrees out of phase with each other which is why 240v appliances can consider having those 2 wires (and at least the neutral) to be a 240v appliance. And to be more pedantic about it, the ground is not provided not by the power company but the ground. I have 3 lines coming from the grid to my pole, line 1, 2 and the neutral that is created by the transformer. The ground comes from my ground - a long copper wire that goes a few feet down and back up. All ground connections in the (future) house will go there. Ground is also bonded with neutral at the box on my pole.