Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?
by danieldk on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @04:38PM
(#37313668)
We definitely had the wires for three phases coming into the house (Europe, NL) when we got a heat pump and induction cooking plate, the electricity company connected two additional phases in our utilities closet. I asked them, and the only thing they did was actually hooking it up.
It was also free (there was a small cost, but the government subsidizes it to encourage that people switch to heat pumps).
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?
by lazide on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @04:39PM
(#37313694)
Long haul power transmission is almost always 3 phase AC in the US - it can be done using either 3 or 4 wires. It tends to better distribute loads and requires smaller conductors for the same power transmission level.
Split phase is almost always the last mile to residential customers as it’s simpler and easier to reason about (less likely to have severely unbalanced phases too) and requires fewer conductors.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?
by SSLy on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @06:39PM
(#37315077)
I live in a house built somwhere between 1900 and 1930, and it's powered by 3 phases. Since deep commie era.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V?
by bradleyjg on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @08:07PM
(#37315902)
The answers and comments on [0] would seem to suggest that's not true.
Seems the power grid has the capability of delivering three phase power, but many (most?) homes in quite a few European countries don't actually have all three phases delivered.
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Really all modern residential connections in Europe are 400V three phase electric power
You see if they don’t have it delivered, it’s not a modern connection. Conundrum solved!
Seems the power grid has the capability of delivering three phase power, but many (most?) homes in quite a few European countries don't actually have all three phases delivered.
> No matter how you put it, the US residential power grid is conceptionally lagging.
That's only the case if you believe the US is "missing out" on all that much with our split-phase setup. I don't think that's the case, really. Even for EV charging, using the 220V across the -110V and 110V lines is more or less fine. We've been doing the same thing with our electric stoves, water heaters, etc. for quite some time now.
Certainly there are some things you can do with 3-phase that aren't really feasible with split-phase, but I don't think most people living in the US care too much. It's true that those who do are probably upset about it, though!
Also consider that the US power system is trivially 3-phase! We just don't wire all those phases to homes, as we a) don't generally see the need to, b) chicken-and-egg problem suggests that most people wouldn't be able to use it anyway, since appliances made for the US wouldn't be able to take advantage of it.
[0] https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/625353/is-3-...