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interesting ,frightening and understandable American electrics


chesters1

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WOW i certainly didnt know how crazy american electrics are ! We may over emphasize safety here but now you see why!

PS i thought they used DC! The guy says our system is weird lol

I googled it after watching a guy plug a welder into his newly installed 240v system

Does every house have a transformer ? Mr Bush! Seems a little expensive if its so we have them on long line branches to remote houses to make the voltage more stable but ours is generally 240v (220v usually now) from the supply in the road ,our last house was on  long overhead wires (2 not 3) with a transformer supplying the 3 houses at its end

 

 

Edited by chesters1

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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CHESTER'S1

I rarely mess with things I can't see or touch. Here is what I know, not much).  We get 3 wires, two hot (black) and one neutral (white). If you hook-up 1 black and the white you have 120 to that circuit. All 3 is 240

At each house there is a transformer. The transformer's job is to reduce the 7,200 volts down to the 240 volts that makes up normal household electrical service. Currently modern transformers  can handle 7200 divided by 240 number of homes. It varies but I don't know how or why.

Your meter works both ways. A few actually get a check for there electric bill. Example, solar panels

Phone

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Transformers can be used to Step Up (increase) or Step Down (Decrease) voltage. It's something to do with the number of turns of copper wire on a coil. (I think??)

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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Yes i believe on long wires to get round the problem with resistance the voltage is increased then dropped so i presume there is a transformer either end? One to increase it and the near end to drop it down to the normal household voltage .

They replaced them telling us the new cables were more resistant to breaking (we had plenty of breaks over the years hense all the paraffin and gas lamps we have now) and the 3 houses were on a car sized transformer for nearly a month ,not perfect the clocks went forward ten minutes a day so i guess they needed fine tuning we didnt complain free leccy for a month was ok !!

The new ones were duly installed (the time was taken cutting trees up the hillside and installing new poles ) and we never saw any difference ,the slightest bit of bad weather and we were in the dark

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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CHESTERS1,

I do have an ac/dc story. The whole of downtown Kansas City up until the middle 1950's was direct current electric service and steam heated.

A friend of mine, couple years older, discovered we could have the elevator motors for the asking when the buildings switched over to alternating current.

Of course, they were in the basement of the building. We salvaged 3 from one building and one from another but had to stop. The only reason we had to stop was because two kids just wasn't nearly the necessary manpower.

A direct current elevator motor for a 20 story building had about 3500 lbs of copper.  Wish I had another shot at them today.

Phone

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I have an ac/dc story too. I was having a drink in a bar with my mates in Singapore whilst on leave...........

 

Maybe not.......

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If all else fails, follow the intructions.
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9 hours ago, Cameraman said:

I have an ac/dc story too. I was having a drink in a bar with my mates in Singapore whilst on leave...........

 

Maybe not.......

You weren't  trapped in the sliding window screen watching nubile females dancing by any chance?

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Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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3 hours ago, chesters1 said:

You weren't  trapped in the sliding window screen watching nubile females dancing by any chance?

Ok, till one discovers the Meat & 2 Veg'!!!

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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