AU and Earthing
We earth almost everything except small appliances. All GPO's in houses have been 3 pronged and earthed since people stopped plugging things into light sockets and started using GPO's.
TV's VCR's etc are double insulated
Mixers, stick blenders, hair dryers vaccums are too.
Stoves, Computers, kettles, toasters, fridges, washers, dryers, dishwashers, garbage disposals, microwaves, heaters, Permanent Light fixtures, Irons, all are earthed.
Its only been in the last 30 years that we've seen the advent of double insulated products. Otherwise between 1940 and 1970 everything was always earthed. (3 Pins)
Our Standard 10amp 240V plug is 4cm in diameter.
Above this we have a 15 and 20amp GPO's in the same shape.
In the 15amp, the earth pin is bigger than the active and neutral pins. In the 20amp plug all 3 pins are the same size as the earth pin on the 15amp plug.
Normal house power up until about 32amps or 7.6KW is all single phase 240V. Above that voltage you would normally go to 3 Phase 408V. Anything above 20amps in a domestic situation is usually hardwired. In a commercial situation you can get plugs for 32amp+ cables.
A 10 amp socket is about 3cm Square. A Double GPO with switches is about 12cm x 7cm
I dont have a 20amp Plug to check on, however I would assume that it is about 5cm based on the size of a 10amp standard plug.
My understanding of AC is that if you want to increase the voltage in parallel (Not via transformer), you have to add voltages from seperate phases? Is this a correct assumption? If so, does that mean technically, that US houses have a 2 phase supply?
We earth almost everything except small appliances. All GPO's in houses have been 3 pronged and earthed since people stopped plugging things into light sockets and started using GPO's.
TV's VCR's etc are double insulated
Mixers, stick blenders, hair dryers vaccums are too.
Stoves, Computers, kettles, toasters, fridges, washers, dryers, dishwashers, garbage disposals, microwaves, heaters, Permanent Light fixtures, Irons, all are earthed.
Its only been in the last 30 years that we've seen the advent of double insulated products. Otherwise between 1940 and 1970 everything was always earthed. (3 Pins)
Our Standard 10amp 240V plug is 4cm in diameter.
Above this we have a 15 and 20amp GPO's in the same shape.
In the 15amp, the earth pin is bigger than the active and neutral pins. In the 20amp plug all 3 pins are the same size as the earth pin on the 15amp plug.
Normal house power up until about 32amps or 7.6KW is all single phase 240V. Above that voltage you would normally go to 3 Phase 408V. Anything above 20amps in a domestic situation is usually hardwired. In a commercial situation you can get plugs for 32amp+ cables.
A 10 amp socket is about 3cm Square. A Double GPO with switches is about 12cm x 7cm
I dont have a 20amp Plug to check on, however I would assume that it is about 5cm based on the size of a 10amp standard plug.
My understanding of AC is that if you want to increase the voltage in parallel (Not via transformer), you have to add voltages from seperate phases? Is this a correct assumption? If so, does that mean technically, that US houses have a 2 phase supply?
