On Oct 27, 9:03*am, JIMMIE wrote:
On Oct 27, 7:46*am, "HeyBub" wrote:

JIMMIE wrote:

Where in the box can you measure 400 amps? If the panel is controlling
48KW there will be no current on the neutral because the currents will
be balanced. The current that flows through one half of the breaker is
the same current that flows through the other half of the breaker. In
this case what you have is two 200 amp breakers in series. Doug you
have more current coming into the box than going out and that shouldn't
happen.

Think heat.

LOL

Jimmie: I think the reason this thread has gone so long is that some
do not really understand current flow, especially AC (Alternating
Current) single phase and may be confusing current flow (amperes) with
power (watts/kilowatts).

In some countries also they have only two wires coming into a domestic
service (plus ground/earth). So they have a concept of only the two
wires of a single phase 230 volt service. One of which is neutral
(essentially at zero volts!) and the other at 230 volts (often 50
hertz) to neutral and ground. the size of those dermines the ampere
capacity of the service.

Was looking at distribution along a street in Malta; which was
attached to the face of the buildings. It comprised four wires. One of
which was ground/earth. I think it was green? One of the remaining
three was neutral. The other two were most likely 230+ and 230- as it
were of a single phase. Or they might have been two phases of a a 3
phase delta/star transformer sub-station secondary at end of the
street. The house services along the street were connected alternately
to these last two. In other words all services were two wire single
phase 230 volt, plus a ground/earth.

Again in one of the Gulf States it was also essentially 230 volts 50
hertz. BUT; in that instance there were the three phases and neutral
etc. coming into every residence unit and the circuit breaker panel or
CU (Consumer Unit) had three sections one for each phase. The fact
that there were some seven large 230 volt 50 hertz AC units in each
unit probaly required a heavy service! Residentially didn't see any 3
phase equipment although it could have been hooked up. It was mainly
UG.

Other areas of the world may vary; in Sri Lanka for example it was
hard to tell what was going on viewing some of the lash-ups on some of
the service poles!

Anyway the point of all this is that it's best to understand, no
matter where one is, what the electrical service arrangement is. Also
that with two wires (plus ground) there can be no
doubt .................. a 200 amp service (or whatever it's rated) is
just that, 200 amps.

No more (unless overloaded) no less (subject to the recommended 80%
rule for prolonged use). Nothing magic about it!