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The wiring on a house works like this. There ARE actually a total potential of 240 volts coming from the line. You have three wires. Two hot wires, and one neutral(ground). When you use one hot wire and one neutral, you get a total swing of 120 volts. When you use both hot wires, you get a total swing of 240 volts. Some appliances use 240 volts (ie. clothes dryer). Why do the voltages work like this? Because the two hot wires are two halves of a 240 volt AC circuit. As you know, the "hot" wire changes 60 times per second(60 hz.). This means that each side of an AC circuit power source produces half of the total voltage. When you wire one side of an AC circuit to a neutral ground, you only get half of the AC cycle, therefore only half of the total voltage in the circuit. Basically, during the cycle, when one hot wire is swinging up towards 120 volts, the other is at 0 volts. The more I talk about this, the more I realize how complex/confusing it must seem to someone not familiar with electricity basics.
[ 07-15-2002, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Sir Kenyth ]
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Master Barbsman and wielder of the razor wit!<br /><br />There are dark angels among us. They present themselves in shining raiment but there is, in their hearts, the blackness of the abyss.
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