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The real reason why North America uses 120v instead of 240v.

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IanB:

--- Quote from: MikeK on November 24, 2022, 06:55:04 pm ---Do countries that use 240V have two out-of-phase 120V lines (like the US actually has), or do they just have a single 240V line?

--- End quote ---

It is single phase 240 V, but wiring and appliances are supposed to assume that both line and neutral conductors are live, and each has to be equally insulated from any exposed parts that could be touched.

SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: IanB on November 24, 2022, 07:57:18 pm ---
--- Quote from: MikeK on November 24, 2022, 06:55:04 pm ---Do countries that use 240V have two out-of-phase 120V lines (like the US actually has), or do they just have a single 240V line?

--- End quote ---

It is single phase 240 V, but wiring and appliances are supposed to assume that both line and neutral conductors are live, and each has to be equally insulated from any exposed parts that could be touched.

--- End quote ---

Yep.

jpanhalt:

--- Quote from: Monkeh on November 24, 2022, 07:55:36 pm ---
--- Quote from: jpanhalt on November 24, 2022, 07:13:17 pm ---More copper is needed, but lives are more important.

--- End quote ---

And yet more people still die of electrical shock and electrical fires in the US than in 230V nations. In 2017, 13 shock deaths were recorded in England. In 2020, 126 were recorded in work-place incidents alone in the USA.

Tell me again how your standards and accompanying attitudes are safer.

--- End quote ---

I would like to read your source.  What is it?  How were populations and usage matched?  For example, in Lesotho, 240 may be the standard, but the vast majority of the population doesn't use it as frequently as in America.

Monkeh:

--- Quote from: jpanhalt on November 24, 2022, 08:08:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: Monkeh on November 24, 2022, 07:55:36 pm ---
--- Quote from: jpanhalt on November 24, 2022, 07:13:17 pm ---More copper is needed, but lives are more important.

--- End quote ---

And yet more people still die of electrical shock and electrical fires in the US than in 230V nations. In 2017, 13 shock deaths were recorded in England. In 2020, 126 were recorded in work-place incidents alone in the USA.

Tell me again how your standards and accompanying attitudes are safer.

--- End quote ---

I would like to read your source.  What is it?  How were populations and usage matched?  For example, in Lesotho, 240 may be the standard, but the vast majority of the population doesn't use it as frequently as in America.

--- End quote ---

What does Lesotho have to do with the price of powdered milk on Mars? Are you somehow imagining England as an unelectrified backwater?

My sources are publications from the Office for National Statistics and the NFPA. I'm sure you can find them.

IanB:
I'm sure I saw a video recently saying that electrical accidents have paradoxically been increasing in the years since the government introduced regulations with the intention of making things safer. But now I can't find the video with any search keywords. Either it is being hidden from the search results, or it got removed for being too alarming for people to see.

I think the premise was that anyone can now take a short training course and become "qualified" as an electrical installer, leading to all sorts of poor quality work. Whereas electricians have to go through years of training and apprenticeship to become properly qualified.

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