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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: energy in UK
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:57:26 -0700
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On 4/18/2025 1:19 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
> Where I live in a rural backwater the mains is actually more like US style two 
> phase and neutral rather than normal UK 3 phase. 

Our mains is actually a 240V center tapped configuration (thus, single phase).
There are two "hot" leads -- each 180 degrees out of phase with the other.
The center tap is considered neutral.  It is typically bonded to earth
at the load center.

Ideally, loads in the house are balanced on the two "legs".  An open
neutral connection is a recipe for disaster as the loads start to
see unbalanced potentials.

Particularly problematic in homes where the earth connection wasn't
present universally throughout.

> This is a sore point with 
> businesses that would like to use 3 phase equipment. Each village is across one 
> pair of the 3 phase distribution line with a transformer ratio to give 240v 
> output.
Each *village*?  How is that balanced?  Luck??