From: rick@nowhere.com   
      
   "Jim Wilkins"  wrote in message   
   news:jfhcg9$4ko$1@dont-email.me...   
   >   
   > "Rick"  wrote in message   
   > news:jfh822$a7o$1@dont-email.me...   
   >> ...   
   >> I'm in the UK where we use a standardised 13A fused plug which is usually   
   >> connected to a 230 volt 30A ring main for ordinary household appliances,   
   >> with obviously heavier feeds for things like kitchen appliances such as   
   >> electric cookers and maybe bathroom 12KW electric showers, how do they   
   >> manage stuff like that stateside?   
   >   
   > In the US portable consumer appliances are generally limited to 15A at   
   > 120V. The wall outlets are rated at 15A or 20A, with only a few per   
   > circuit breaker and separate circuits for overhead lighting.   
   >   
   > Electric stoves and clothes dryers have dedicated 240V circuits with   
   > appropriate plugs and breakers like 30A. This house had an electric   
   > fireplace in the basement with a 240V 30A plug, which I use to run a large   
   > air compressor. It's a standard low-cost tract house from 1970 and has a   
   > 200A service with 40 circuit breaker positions plus separately metered   
   > electric hot water.   
   >   
   > Hobbyist-sized arc welders and plasma cutters can be either hard-wired (as   
   > are water heaters and large air conditioners) or they can use a 50A 240V   
   > plug.   
   >   
   > When we need occasional three phase power for machine tools we use static   
   > or rotary converters or electronic Variable Frequency Drives running off   
   > 240V.   
   >   
   >   
   I would imagine that having a dual voltage system must mean that it wouldn't   
   be entirely unknown for someone to have somehow managed to connect a 110   
   volt appliance to 240 volts?   
      
   I'm pretty certain that I read somewhere that at one time America actually   
   seriously considered changing their electricity supply to 240V, apparently   
   the reason they didn't was the horrendously huge costs involved in replacing   
   millions of household appliances.   
      
   I can remember radios brought to the UK by American servicemen during world   
   war two, they worked fine until someone decided to shorten the mains lead,   
   with disastrous effects, because unfortunately for the uninitiated, it   
   incorporated a long length of resistive wire, I believe that the Americans   
   referred to it as a 'line cord:-)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)