On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:28:50 -0700, D Yuniskis
wrote:

Hi Sylvia,

Sylvia Else wrote:
Are you really thick or just pretending.

I'll opt for neither. So far you've said nothing relevant to the thread,
which concerns a house with two connected phases.

Have we decided that you really have two different *phases*
vs. two different *legs* (but really "single phase" -- think
center tapped transformer).

E.g., 3 phase "220" (US) is three conductors plus a ground.
If you look at any two of those conductors (ground referenced)
you would see a 120 degree PHASE lag between them.

A US residential service is "single phase, 220" in which
you have two 110V circuits ("legs") 180 degrees out of phase
with each other (i.e., the center tapped xformer concept).

So, here, half of your lighting/living circuits are on
one *leg* (so those appliances are nominally 110VAC)
and the other half on the other "leg". Some bigger
loads tend to straddle both legs (220) -- e.g., the
blower motor in the evaporative cooler. Other
appliances *use* both legs but actually as two 110V
*circuits* (i.e., higher ampacity available on two
conductors).


US standard is 240 volts, not 220.