Re: US system is not as inefficient as I once thought

Robert Calvert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I've known for some time now that the Europeans use 230 volts and that we
> Americans use 120 volts for most household items and 240 volts for large
> appliances. Even though I've never really given it much thought, I've
always
> imagined that the US system is somewhat less efficient than the European
> system because of the lower voltage and higher amperages that our
electrical
> devices have use to compensate for the lower voltage. But I was talking to
> an electrician the other day and he told me that this is not really the
case
> between the breaker box and the transformer. According to him, if all the
> 120 volt loads that are connected to one hot leg exactly matched the loads
> that are connected to the other, it would be as if half the loads were
> connected in series with the other half. At the same time, you would find
> that the neutral is not carrying any current at all. In the real world,
some
> of the current does have to pass through the neutral since the loads being
> imposed on both legs are not perfectly balanced. But most of the current
> that's delivered to our homes comes as 240 volts through the hot wires
> because of this effect. This would also explain why a double receptacle
> circuit with a shared neutral wire doesn't have to use a neutral wire that
> can accommodate the amperages of both 120 volt hot wires.
>
>         Robert
>
>