On Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 11:14:28 PM UTC-4, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...

On Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 7:05:18 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 9/22/2016 6:02 PM, trader_4 wrote:


Recently? I recall 110V at our house in Philadelphia, but that was 60
years ago. Going back to Westinghouse and his AC transformers I did
read they were 110V output. With voltage drops at distances it could be
low and thus, was boosted to a nominal 120V.

I am neither an electrical historian or engineer and I'm not going to
search for cites. Nominal voltage today is 120 but can be lower with
distance.

Or to put it another way, if we went to the panel in the homes of
the people who are talking about 110/220, would we measure close
to that or would we really see 120/240? I'm guessing the latter.

This discussion is almost like trying to call a 2x4 whatever it is now.
Over the years the 2x4 has gotten smaller as the time passes by. The
voltage has gotten higher. If you were to go to a lumber yard would you
ask for a 2x4 or maybe something like a 1 3/4 x 3 1/2 or whatever they
are now ?


Not even close to the same. 2x4's are called out as that in construction
specs, though the actual dimensions are less. That is what they are referred to by standards, by sellers, by buyers, by people in the trade,
who call them 2x4s but deliver the spec'd dimensions. You just saw
the specs for the oven in this thread. It says 240V, not 220. Same with
my oven when I put it in. The applicances one typically buys are spec'd
at 120V, not 110V. And 120V is what the power company delivers, again
to a spec. In other words the industry is using 240/120, mostly
consistently and that is what you get when you measure at the panel,
at least here. So, I don't see the need for the 110/220 confusion,
it's just wrong.




I have a voltmeter on one of the outlets at my house that stays on all
the time. It has been calibrated with instruments that were at one time
set to the NIST. It has ranged from a low of 118 to a high of 124 at
the times I have seen it. Most of the time it is around 121 to 123
volts.

Exactly. It's not in the neighborhood of 110V, because it's 120V power.