Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit
Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts
Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly, but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit

For real?

Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts

56v from where to where? tap to earth or tap to other tap?

The source of the 56v will be mains 230v, with current limited by
presumably faulty insulation (given the shock). IOW it could fry
someone at any time.


Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

That would certainly fit the picture. But given that your heater is on
the light circuit, there is mains power on the taps, and the taps
arent bonded anywhere, the whole system sounds like a disaster. If it
were mine I'd check the whole lot out and sort it, as it stands its
just plain dangerous. IOW your problem is bigger than 1 or 2 symptoms.


Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,

what resistance reading?

but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

for now anyway

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

Well, you need to test everything, it sounds very screwed and entirely
unsafe.

The most immedate fault could be found by sticking your voltmeter on
the taps, switching all circuits off at the CU, and turning them on
one by one. When one causes your taps to go live, switch it off and
leave it off until fixed, with warning notice.

But dont kid yourself this will make it safe, all that would do is
find the biggest most immediate danger. You still have unearthed taps
with no effective leakage protection, and by the sound of it some
other horrors. The only thing I could advise doing is switch the power
off to the whole house and leave it off.

You've got a pool as well, gawd.


NT

On 6 Apr, 09:16, wrote:
On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit

For real?

Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts

56v from where to where? tap to earth or tap to other tap?

The source of the 56v will be mains 230v, with current limited by
presumably faulty insulation (given the shock). IOW it could fry
someone at any time.

Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

That would certainly fit the picture. But given that your heater is on
the light circuit, there is mains power on the taps, and the taps
arent bonded anywhere, the whole system sounds like a disaster. If it
were mine I'd check the whole lot out and sort it, as it stands its
just plain dangerous. IOW your problem is bigger than 1 or 2 symptoms.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,

what resistance reading?

but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

for now anyway

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits
Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

Well, you need to test everything, it sounds very screwed and entirely
unsafe.

The most immedate fault could be found by sticking your voltmeter on
the taps, switching all circuits off at the CU, and turning them on
one by one. When one causes your taps to go live, switch it off and
leave it off until fixed, with warning notice.

But dont kid yourself this will make it safe, all that would do is
find the biggest most immediate danger. You still have unearthed taps
with no effective leakage protection, and by the sound of it some
other horrors. The only thing I could advise doing is switch the power
off to the whole house and leave it off.

You've got a pool as well, gawd.

NT

Get a copy of the on site guide to BS7671 and STUDY it thoroughly. I
agree with NT the whole system needs properly investigating and maybe
a full rewire is called for.
If you get back to Blighty several training organisations offer
courses of about two weeks duration where the basic knowledge (and
building regs for electricians) can be obtained. It sounds as though
that might be a useful course of action for you.

On 6 Apr, 09:16, wrote:
On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit

For real?

Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts

56v from where to where? tap to earth or tap to other tap?

The source of the 56v will be mains 230v, with current limited by
presumably faulty insulation (given the shock). IOW it could fry
someone at any time.

Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

That would certainly fit the picture. But given that your heater is on
the light circuit, there is mains power on the taps, and the taps
arent bonded anywhere, the whole system sounds like a disaster. If it
were mine I'd check the whole lot out and sort it, as it stands its
just plain dangerous. IOW your problem is bigger than 1 or 2 symptoms.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,

what resistance reading?

but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

for now anyway

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits
Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

Well, you need to test everything, it sounds very screwed and entirely
unsafe.

The most immedate fault could be found by sticking your voltmeter on
the taps, switching all circuits off at the CU, and turning them on
one by one. When one causes your taps to go live, switch it off and
leave it off until fixed, with warning notice.

But dont kid yourself this will make it safe, all that would do is
find the biggest most immediate danger. You still have unearthed taps
with no effective leakage protection, and by the sound of it some
other horrors. The only thing I could advise doing is switch the power
off to the whole house and leave it off.

You've got a pool as well, gawd.

NT

Thanks NT

Re the tap reading - I was "told" tap to earth - but want to check
when I get out there

Re the earth stake reading, I am not sure but wanted to know if I can
get hold of some test equipment today and whethe rit's worth it as I
have found some "more professional" electricians

Actions - was planning to do as suggested, shup every thing down and
bring them back one by one with a volt meter on the taps. Next step is
a fully re-wire!

On 6 Apr, 09:26, "cynic" wrote:
On 6 Apr, 09:16, wrote:





On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit

For real?

Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts

56v from where to where? tap to earth or tap to other tap?

The source of the 56v will be mains 230v, with current limited by
presumably faulty insulation (given the shock). IOW it could fry
someone at any time.

Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

That would certainly fit the picture. But given that your heater is on
the light circuit, there is mains power on the taps, and the taps
arent bonded anywhere, the whole system sounds like a disaster. If it
were mine I'd check the whole lot out and sort it, as it stands its
just plain dangerous. IOW your problem is bigger than 1 or 2 symptoms.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,

what resistance reading?

but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

for now anyway

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits
Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

Well, you need to test everything, it sounds very screwed and entirely
unsafe.

The most immedate fault could be found by sticking your voltmeter on
the taps, switching all circuits off at the CU, and turning them on
one by one. When one causes your taps to go live, switch it off and
leave it off until fixed, with warning notice.

But dont kid yourself this will make it safe, all that would do is
find the biggest most immediate danger. You still have unearthed taps
with no effective leakage protection, and by the sound of it some
other horrors. The only thing I could advise doing is switch the power
off to the whole house and leave it off.

You've got a pool as well, gawd.

NT

Get a copy of the on site guide to BS7671 and STUDY it thoroughly. I
agree with NT the whole system needs properly investigating and maybe
a full rewire is called for.
If you get back to Blighty several training organisations offer
courses of about two weeks duration where the basic knowledge (and
building regs for electricians) can be obtained. It sounds as though
that might be a useful course of action for you.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the tip - will get hold of a copy from Amazon...but in the
mean time I was looking for something I could download. Need to get up
to speed for when I meet the Spanish electrician.

In message .com,
writes
Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson. Recently
had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Why were they disconnected in the first place. Are they submerged mains
lights? Consider changing them to low voltage before somebody
experiences water borne voltage gradient.

--
Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com

"Clive Mitchell" wrote in message
...
In message .com,
writes
Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson. Recently
had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Why were they disconnected in the first place. Are they submerged mains
lights? Consider changing them to low voltage before somebody experiences
water borne voltage gradient.

Reminds me of my first holday abroad, in La Escala.
There was a part of the hotel swimming pool where you could
feel a servere tingle, that was 40 years ago, I wonder if they
ever fixed it.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On 6 Apr, 09:35, wrote:
On 6 Apr, 09:16, wrote:
On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Thanks NT

Re the tap reading - I was "told" tap to earth - but want to check
when I get out there

Re the earth stake reading, I am not sure but wanted to know if I can
get hold of some test equipment today and whethe rit's worth it as I
have found some "more professional" electricians

Actions - was planning to do as suggested, shup every thing down and
bring them back one by one with a volt meter on the taps. Next step is
a fully re-wire!

You should be able to find whats going on with nothing more than a
multimeter and a lightbulb. If you want more kit, you could use it,
but those things would generally be adequate to find the serious
problems.

Re a rewire, you'll probably find much of the wiring is either ok or
only needs minor work on it, so its not like it all needs replacing,
but it will all need going over, some does need replacing, and there
will be a fair bit of minor rewiring to make it all safe.

If you want to do some yourself,

a) you'll soon know which circuit is electrifying the taps, and using
a multimeter measuring R from circuit L to the taps you can find out
where the leakage is, and replace the leaky item.

b) you need to see where earthing is failing. Check R from earth block
at CU to local earth (metal stake in ground), then check R from that
earth block to the taps. Most likely there is a disconnection in one
of those 2 areas. If not, and everything's connected, then you lack
RCDs on the CU and need them. Local earthing is not an effectrive way
to clear earth faults, hence RCDs are required for local earths.

c) you need to bond all the mains services at their entrances to the
house to CU earth block. This means water, gas, oil, etc.

d) rewire the supply to the water heater, running it off the lighting
is, well, crackers. Then change the lighting fuse/mcb to 5A or 6A.

Doing those should solve all the evident problems, but you still need
to get it all checked out, especially as youve got a pool and
therefore presumably shower (scary).

Warning & disclaimer: you need to know what youre doing before doing
each job. If not competent, leave it alone, let the system fry you
instead.

Until done I'd stay well clear of pool & shower. Isolate any supplies
to them, with warning notices.


NT

In message , Graham
writes
Why were they disconnected in the first place. Are they submerged mains
lights? Consider changing them to low voltage before somebody experiences
water borne voltage gradient.

Reminds me of my first holday abroad, in La Escala. There was a part of
the hotel swimming pool where you could feel a servere tingle, that was
40 years ago, I wonder if they ever fixed it.

Maybe it was a feature.

The tingling pool of invigoration.

--
Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com

wrote in message
ups.com...
On 6 Apr, 09:26, "cynic" wrote:
On 6 Apr, 09:16, wrote:





On 6 Apr, 08:55, wrote:

Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit

For real?

Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts

56v from where to where? tap to earth or tap to other tap?

The source of the 56v will be mains 230v, with current limited by
presumably faulty insulation (given the shock). IOW it could fry
someone at any time.

Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

That would certainly fit the picture. But given that your heater is on
the light circuit, there is mains power on the taps, and the taps
arent bonded anywhere, the whole system sounds like a disaster. If it
were mine I'd check the whole lot out and sort it, as it stands its
just plain dangerous. IOW your problem is bigger than 1 or 2 symptoms.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,

what resistance reading?

but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

for now anyway

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits
Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate
the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

Thanks Jacko

Well, you need to test everything, it sounds very screwed and entirely
unsafe.

The most immedate fault could be found by sticking your voltmeter on
the taps, switching all circuits off at the CU, and turning them on
one by one. When one causes your taps to go live, switch it off and
leave it off until fixed, with warning notice.

But dont kid yourself this will make it safe, all that would do is
find the biggest most immediate danger. You still have unearthed taps
with no effective leakage protection, and by the sound of it some
other horrors. The only thing I could advise doing is switch the power
off to the whole house and leave it off.

You've got a pool as well, gawd.

NT

Get a copy of the on site guide to BS7671 and STUDY it thoroughly. I
agree with NT the whole system needs properly investigating and maybe
a full rewire is called for.
If you get back to Blighty several training organisations offer
courses of about two weeks duration where the basic knowledge (and
building regs for electricians) can be obtained. It sounds as though
that might be a useful course of action for you.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the tip - will get hold of a copy from Amazon...but in the
mean time I was looking for something I could download. Need to get up
to speed for when I meet the Spanish electrician.


The article on kevin boone site gives a reasonable description of how a
household electrical system should work.
http://www.kevinboone.com/cableselection_web.html

It's not perfect but the details of spanish regs might well be different
anyway.

Jim

On 2007-04-06 21:43:53 +0100, "Jim Ingram"
said:



The article on kevin boone site gives a reasonable description of how a
household electrical system should work.
http://www.kevinboone.com/cableselection_web.html

It's not perfect but the details of spanish regs might well be different
anyway.

Jim

Always remembering that the further away from the poles you go, the
less the correlation between regulation and practice.

For example, traffic lights in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece are more
of a guideline than anything else.

The Spanish word for a private security guard is "vigilante"; the
English meaning being someone taking the law into their own hands.

There is probably a similar comparison for electrical installation inspector.

A sobre marrón will generally help though.

On 6 Apr 2007 00:55:24 -0700, wrote:


Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

If the re-wire doesn't help, it might also be worth checking out the
immersion heater element. If the element has corroded through, you
could have mains voltage in contact with your hot water inside the
tank.

One other symptom I had when this happened to me was the top half of
the tank getting hot but not the bottom half as the element was
corroded through halfway down but obviously that varies depending on
how far down the corrosion is,

Cheers,

John

On 6 Apr, 22:12, John Anderton
wrote:
On 6 Apr 2007 00:55:24 -0700, wrote:



Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

If the re-wire doesn't help, it might also be worth checking out the
immersion heater element. If the element has corroded through, you
could have mains voltage in contact with your hot water inside the
tank.

One other symptom I had when this happened to me was the top half of
the tank getting hot but not the bottom half as the element was
corroded through halfway down but obviously that varies depending on
how far down the corrosion is,

Cheers,

John

The intent of earthing is to provide a path for fault currents to flow
with two aims - 1 to cause the circuit protective device to operate
and cut off the power and 2 to hold down any voltage rise to a safe
value near to earth potential. A damaged immersion sheath should not
cause the problem described if the earthing is adequate. From
description so far it sounds as though the protective device is not
suitably rated, the earth loop impedance is too high and the wiring
has been installed by an incompetent.
I could do with a holiday in Spain!

wrote in message
oups.com...
Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12 volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

*That* is NOT good

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs replaced...

It's Spain.....and in rural areas vary in "expertise" of wiring and also
quality of anything else to do with construction. (DAMHIKIJD)

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit
Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts
Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

First suspicion is earthing through the pool lighting feed.
Shut down the power, disconnect it, reapply the power, and take another
reading from the taps using a meter. DON'T touch the metal surfaces while
you do so though....Obviously.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly, but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

What may have happened here is a "better" route to earth for the existing
faulty supply giving the live area problems a lesser reading.

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

Call the local authorities (Council) and ask for a certified or approved
electrician to attend. http://www.oultwood.com/localgov/countries/spain.php
or
Look at http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/spain/index.php


Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

You might start here
http://www.epanorama.net/links/wire_mains.html

Longish read with lots of links at he bottom providing a good insight and
more info.
Watch out for the Pop-ups

"R" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Help - I am trying to trace why I am getting a fluctuating 9-12
volt
reading across the taps in my bathroom in my house in Spain.

*That* is NOT good

Background
The house is over 20 yrs old. The wiring looks Heath Robinson.
Recently had swimming pool lights re-connected and bulbs
replaced...

It's Spain.....and in rural areas vary in "expertise" of wiring and
also
quality of anything else to do with construction. (DAMHIKIJD)

Symptoms - lighting circuit flickers, circuit trips.
Existing water immersion heater (3.5kw) is spurred of the lighting
circuit
Guest received a shock from the taps in the bathroom
When tested showing up to 56 volts
Possibility that the house earth grounding was severed during work
carried out at the time the pool lights were supposedly fixed.

First suspicion is earthing through the pool lighting feed.
Shut down the power, disconnect it, reapply the power, and take
another
reading from the taps using a meter. DON'T touch the metal surfaces
while
you do so though....Obviously.

Actions
Additional earth stake put in ohm's reading dropped significantly,
but
not yet at the right levels
Taps now reading 9-12 volts

What may have happened here is a "better" route to earth for the
existing
faulty supply giving the live area problems a lesser reading.

Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

Call the local authorities (Council) and ask for a certified or
approved
electrician to attend.
http://www.oultwood.com/localgov/countries/spain.php
or
Look at http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/spain/index.php


Questions
Going out this weekend, what can I do to test and try and isolate
the
problem? I am a novice so some reading (the guide to testing
electrical domestic installations) and advice would be most
appreciated.

You might start here
http://www.epanorama.net/links/wire_mains.html

Longish read with lots of links at he bottom providing a good
insight and
more info.
Watch out for the Pop-ups



I get concerned with sites like that when they contain statements
like:

"The frequency of DC voltage is 50 or 60 Hz depending on the country"

AWEM

On Sat, 7 Apr 2007 09:48:29 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
mused:


You might start here
http://www.epanorama.net/links/wire_mains.html

Longish read with lots of links at he bottom providing a good
insight and
more info.
Watch out for the Pop-ups



I get concerned with sites like that when they contain statements
like:

"The frequency of DC voltage is 50 or 60 Hz depending on the country"

AWEM

And "Why did the US choose 120v for household current".

That page looks awful, I could probably read it if they split the one
stupidly long page into several smaller pages. Some people shouldn't
be allowed near websites.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

On 6 Apr 2007 14:32:15 -0700, "cynic" wrote:

On 6 Apr, 22:12, John Anderton
wrote:
On 6 Apr 2007 00:55:24 -0700, wrote:



Recommendation
Use a new electrician to re-wire the dodgy circuits

If the re-wire doesn't help, it might also be worth checking out the
immersion heater element. If the element has corroded through, you
could have mains voltage in contact with your hot water inside the
tank.

One other symptom I had when this happened to me was the top half of
the tank getting hot but not the bottom half as the element was
corroded through halfway down but obviously that varies depending on
how far down the corrosion is,


The intent of earthing is to provide a path for fault currents to flow
with two aims - 1 to cause the circuit protective device to operate
and cut off the power and 2 to hold down any voltage rise to a safe
value near to earth potential. A damaged immersion sheath should not
cause the problem described if the earthing is adequate. From
description so far it sounds as though the protective device is not
suitably rated, the earth loop impedance is too high and the wiring
has been installed by an incompetent.

Agreed. I was thinking of the symptom of the lighting circuit
tripping. If the wiring is re-done (including proper earthing) and the
circuit (presumably not the lighting one after things are done
properly !) still trips, a corroded immersion heater could be the
culprit,

I could do with a holiday in Spain!

Me too !

Cheers,

John

In message , Lurch
writes
On Sat, 7 Apr 2007 09:48:29 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
mused:


You might start here
http://www.epanorama.net/links/wire_mains.html

Longish read with lots of links at he bottom providing a good
insight and
more info.
Watch out for the Pop-ups



I get concerned with sites like that when they contain statements
like:

"The frequency of DC voltage is 50 or 60 Hz depending on the country"

AWEM

And "Why did the US choose 120v for household current".

That page looks awful, I could probably read it if they split the one
stupidly long page into several smaller pages. Some people shouldn't
be allowed near websites.

Try going on the Saracens website and try to buy tickets ...


--
geoff

"Lurch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Apr 2007 09:48:29 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
mused:


You might start here
http://www.epanorama.net/links/wire_mains.html

Longish read with lots of links at he bottom providing a good
insight and
more info.
Watch out for the Pop-ups



I get concerned with sites like that when they contain statements
like:

"The frequency of DC voltage is 50 or 60 Hz depending on the country"

AWEM

And "Why did the US choose 120v for household current".

That page looks awful, I could probably read it if they split the one
stupidly long page into several smaller pages. Some people shouldn't
be allowed near websites.

I *did* mention it was a long read...