Arfa Daily wrote:

I'd love to have 3 phase, I've never seen it in a residence though, and
residential equipment is all single phase anyway, it works.

I kinda like above ground power, at least for the big stuff. Most of the
houses around here from the late 70s on have underground power, but some
of the old lines are starting to deteriorate so they've had to dig up
streets and flower beds to replace them.


Isn't the 'high' voltage that you have in the US for powering washing
machines and the like, phase to phase ? Seems like it wouldn't be that hard
for the power company to put in the third phase as well ? (I might be
totally adrift on this one - I'm not a power engineer ;-) )

In the US, the high voltage distribution is done with three phases, shifted
120' from one another. You can also in many places order low voltage lines
with three-phase power, but it's not common in residential areas.

In most residential areas, they will send one leg of that three phase 3KV out
to a distribution transformer near your house. The secondary of that
transformer has a center-tap tied to the neutral, and then two hot wires
that are 180' out of phase. So neutral to one leg is 120V, but leg to leg
is 240V.

But this does not help you if you want to run a 25-foot turret lathe in
your garage, which requires three phases with a 120' shift between them.
For that, you either have to move to an industrial neighborhood, or call
the power company to pull three-phase 3KV in and then drop it down to
a low voltage with your own set of transformers. They will charge for this.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."