On Fri, 31 May 2013 12:36:49 -0400, wrote:
Are ovens and clothes dryers 240V? Every modern installation has a
neutral.

Yes, they are 240V. (At least in the US. My comments apply to the US.
All these can be built for 120V, or for 12V or for 1200V, but 240V is
a good compromise for minimizing the wire diameter needed and
minimizing the risk from high voltage in a residence.)

Most ovens and dryers will have a neutral run to them, but that's
because they are multiple appliances in a single box. Specifically,
they are a light bulb, a heating element, an electronic controller (in
modern units), and in many cases a fan. The heating element is 240V
and is not attached to the neutral. The light bulb is 120V and is
attached to the neutral and one of the hot legs. Fans may vary but
will be one of the two. The neutral is not used for the 240V part.

The compressor side of a split system A/C, or a package unit A/C or
heat pump, may well have only the two hot legs and no neutral. It
contains only the compressor and probably a heat exchanger fan, and
these can both be 240V. It might contain electronics, but the
electronics are fed through a step-down transformer within the unit
anyway.

In all of these cases the major load -- the heating element for ovens
and dryers, the compressor and probably the heat exchanger fan in A/C
compressors -- uses the two hot legs and not the neutral, and thus is
incapable of causing an imbalance, which was the comment I was
responding to.

Edward