Dull Men's Club
An unofficial chapter of the popular Dull Men's Club.
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Use a search engine, a tradesperson, Reddit, friends, a specialist Facebook group, apps, Wikipedia, an AI chat, a reverse image search etc. to answer simple questions, identify objects or get advice. We accept very few questions, and they must be over topics much more difficult than what is easily discoverable with a search. Also see rule 1, “comment baiting”.
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8. All polls must have an "Africa, by Toto" option. Why? Because we hear the drums echoing tonight.
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Dude, fuck yeah! Thats awesome!
If you don't mind my asking, is three phase power common for residential buildings where you live? I didn't realize that was a thing anywhere in the world
It's more common than you think. Most European households use split three-phase power. The grid provides three live wires (50Hz AC phase-shifted by 120°) and a neutral. The voltage between any live wire and the neutral is around 230V, and between any two lives is ~380-400V. Residential power circuits are connected to a live and neutral wire, each of the circuits being fed by a different phase, with separate safety devices (ground fault interruptors and such).
North American residential power is different, but also uses split phases. The transformer that connects the residence to the grid steps the voltage down to 240V, but has a center tap that is used as the neutral wire, resulting in two 120V phases 180° apart from each other. 120V goes to small appliance circuits, and 240V feeds large appliances like HVAC and electric stoves. You can listen to Brown Jacket Man explain it in detail.
Another important note is that transformers supply entire neighbourhoods (dozens or hundreds of households) instead of individual residences.
Except Norway, where 3-phase IT is still dominant. TN is only being built in newly established buildings/areas.
IT being phase/phase = 230V, with no neutral wire.
Upside is it being more robust to ground faults, but you lose 11/22 kW possibility on EV chargers. 7,2 kW is max (32A @ 230V).
Looking forward to it being gone, tbh…
In Belgium it's still widely deployed. Two other downsides are the risk of electrocution with monopolar switches (can't rely on a light switch, not that you ever should but lots of people think "no light = no zappy zappies" then get a nasty surprise), and compatibility issues with some 3-phase appliances that aren't designed to be hooked up without a neutral because they were not sold in an area where 3x230 is common.
Oh shit, thats super cool, I know a bit about the US power grid since that's where I live, but all I knew about the European power grid is that like most of the world they have 240V AC instead of 120 like most outlets provide here in the US (even though we technically also have 240v and just use it for like ovens and electric dryer machines)
Thank you for teaching me stuff, I had no idea three phase power is so common elsewhere!
(Also fuck yeah, technology connections, I love that guy!)
Not sure where OP lives but in Belgium it's common and I think the default for new installations.
Thats neat! It sounds like it's way more common than I realized. Here in the US it's only used in industrial settings as far as I'm aware
In Finland 3 phase 380V also comes to pretty much every house