On Fri, 28 Feb 2014 15:04:33 +0000
Tim Streater wrote:

In article , Davey
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Feb 2014 09:41:24 +0000
Tim Streater wrote:

In article , harryagain
wrote:

Both voltages are common in the USA.

Yes, my house had both voltages (240 to run the washing
machine/dryer) and a whole variety of different sockets.


We lived in many houses in the US, and 240 volts was only ever
provided for dryers or cookers. We never had any sockets
(receptacles in American) wired for 240v except for those specific
devices.

Sorry, my post was incomplete. I meant to say: " ... and a whole
variety of different 120V sockets."


Understood.

I had 2-pin, 2-pin-polarised, 3-pin, and I'm sure there must have been
others. The US 3-pin socket and its flimsy accompanying plug is a PoS,
given that for a given activity, twice the current is passing, hence
four times the heat generated at the socket. The cable for anything
using a lot of power, such as a fan heater, is huge.


Totally agreed. And why they haven't caught on to the idea of putting a
fuse in the plug, I have no idea. Most plugs there now are moulded onto
the end of the cable.

--
Davey.