Quote:
Originally posted by Jerrek
Not quite. Yes it alternates, but one is the phase wire, and one is the neutral. You would want to be able to distinguish them from each other. Appliances with two pins, such as coffee machines, have one pin slightly bigger to indicate the phase wire. Since houses are wired with 2-phase power, you can create 220 volts AC by using two phase wires instead of a phase and neutral. That will create 110 v + 110 v = 220 v.
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Ok so you've got two phases coming into the house (not sure about the UK and continental houses), so if you have any appliances that require 220V they can have a socket that supplies it.
But I'm guessing your ring main is just coming off one phase giving you 110V to all sockets connected to it right?
I'm just intreagued to know why it matters in north america whereas on the continent both pins on the plug are the same size so you can plug it in either way.