Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by rootusrootus on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:09PM (#37311648)

That's a good list, thanks. I'd be interested to know what the experience is like between a 120V hair dryer and a 240V model. I don't have enough hair to worry about such things, but my wife does, and it seems like her hair dryer gets hot enough that she usually turns it down a bit anyway.

The 'industrial' level appliances are probably less of an issue, because the wiring run is limited and you can customize it however you need to. I could go down and buy a 36kW electric tankless water heater today and wire it up without any difficulty. Though it would probably be worth upgrading my 200A panel in that case.

Ranges sound like they're probably pretty similar. Typical modern electric ranges in the US are about 10kW.

Three phases would be handy for reducing the cost of wiring, though. Cost me $1500 USD just for the wire when I ran four new circuits last year. Couple of them were 50A, which is partly why it was so expensive, but mostly it's just that copper is $$$. Any bigger than 60A and I'd switch to aluminum.

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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by fragmede on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:29PM (#37311898)

Also consider: your wife might not be the kind of woman who would use one on high. Pain tolerances among women, like men, vary.

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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by wongarsu on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:20PM (#37311786)

I don't have first-hand experience with the difference in hair dryers either, but I imagine it's mostly air velocity? With more power you can turn more air scalding hot, meaning you can offer higher fan speeds without compromising temperature.

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