On Mar 10, 9:54*am, (Chris Lewis) wrote:
According :

In our office - we have an electrical outlet (large 3 prong
electricians just installed). It is supposed to be 208 Volts...
we were having some problems with our equipment, so I ran a multimeter
on it - and when I hook up the hot and neutral to the meter (analog
type), I get the correct reading of 210volts +/-.
when I connect to the hot and the GROUND I get 120 volts... is that
correct, or does the electrician need to come back out? I thought hot
and ground should also produce the 210 volt reading...

There is _no_ neutral in a 208V circuit. *Just two hots and a ground.
It's the same arrangement as a pure 240V circuit (no 120V loads) - two
hots and a ground.

A 208V circuit is derived from a 3 phase (of the right type) circuit.
It's just two of the three hots and a ground.

So, 120V between either current carrying conductor and the ground,
and 208 between the two current carrying conductors is EXACTLY what you
SHOULD be seeing.

I assume that one of the conductors is white - that's what's fooling
you. *It's not a neutral. *(It should be marked or taped to black or
red).
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

thanks so much. this makes perfect sense.