The US electrical system is not 120V

It's more than 120V. It's even more than the other 120V! It is the sum of the two (and sometimes a different two!) that makes us who we are. Learn about the US electrical system in this not-at-all snarky video!

Would you care for some links?

Firstly are foremostly, here's that video about fans I referenced;

And other assorted goodies!
Technology Connextras (the second channel that stuff goes on sometimes):
Technology Connections on Twitter:
The TC Subreddit

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[TechnologyConnections]

One of these days I'll tidy up that wire...
A minor note; the thing about 208 being 86.7% isn't right for simple resistive loads like heating elements. You'll actually only get 75% the heat on 208! Power (watts) goes up with the square of the voltage. But, if something is designed specifically for 208, you can pull up to 86.7% what you could on 240 with the same amperage.

[theslowmoguys]

Sometimes when I watch these videos I feel like you’re attacking me personally.

[billy]

I've occasionally wondered what a national power grid would look like if you could start again from scratch using current technology. No backwards compatibility, no infrastructure limitations, no analog TVs to sync.

[coreykeesler]

As an American commercial electrician 15 years I usually steer very clear of videos like this for fear of yelling expletives at my screen because so many people just get so much wrong. BUT you sir have nailed it this is the best starting explanation video for basic electricity you never let me down keep up the good work also I’ll try not to be so pedantic about the 110-120 thing but it does drive me nuts especially seeing as how I’m most homes a voltage of 110 puts you above the range for allowable voltage drop (read inefficiency/dangerous)

[Kevins-Philippine-Retirement]

I am a retired electrical engineer and I will tell you this: Your explanations are very clear and concise. Thank you. I am glad I found. Your channel and have subscribed 😊

[Taylorphotostudio]

"We're just going to ignore three-phase for right now" *Angry entertainment electrician noises*

[OLITION]

Technology Connections is the only place I go to learn about current events

[talpalababa]

Actually in Germany we typically have 3 phase power to our home. This means you have 3 powelines, 120° appart and one ground. Depending on how you connect these between eachother or to ground you get either 380V or three times 240V. Bigger machines like washing machines, driers, ovens etc. use the 380V three phase power. Other smaller machines, connected to the normal outlets, use the 240V single phase power.
Usually the fuses for the main lines are 63A for each phase. There are other breakers like 125A, but these are not so common in normal households. Hosehold machines thypically have lines with 16A breakers. Bigger industrial machines use 32A lines ore less commonly 63A.

[scottmorton]

Retired American EE living in SE Asia. It's 240/380 here, like Europe. 3-phase transformers are standard in most neighborhoods. This makes residential electrical installations much easier and cheaper than in the US. No need for costly extra transformers if you need 3-phase. It's also easier and cheaper to wire a kitchen to obtain adequate power for an oven or a big induction cooker when you only need 2.5 mm wire (14AWG) to provide over 3KW. Edison died nearly a century ago so it's time for the US to upgrade to a better secondary distribution topology. 240/380 V is not scary and no big deal when done properly with modern components. Korea already did this a few decades ago

[surferdude]

When I heard that 60HZ hum, I thought, "Wow! Does this guy have a sub-station in his basement or are all of those breakers in desperate need of replacement?".

[artiefischel]

"This building is a single family home..."
"Honey, did you hear that? Is someone downstairs?"

[meenki]

I like the way that you talk to the viewer like they're 3-year-old kids. And lots of great, on topic information without being condescending.

[DumA]

As an electrician, I appreciate you and your humor.

Found your channel a bit ago, and im going through your old videos. Its a gold mine of terrible jokes and education. Thank you for your service:)

[danieljennerman]

If people were confused by gas clothes dryers you should do a video on gas powered refrigerators. That'll blow some minds.

[AldrinAlbano]

As a veteran US Navy Electronics Technician, your presentation, disclaimers and warnings are so ACCURATE!! Great JOB!! Thank you.

[AE]

I went to tech school for HVAC, and I was never really taught the difference between 208/240. Even my super awesome, smart, one-of-a-kind electrical instructor never really mentioned it(I learned a lot of other really valuable stuff from him though, and particularly have a better working knowledge of how motors work than most of the HVAC techs I work with, thanks to him)
I had no idea that 208v was from 120v-3 phase. In my (limited) experience I've pretty much only worked with 240v-3 phase or split-phase120/240v and only ran across 208v once or twice, and had no clue why it was different.
Thank you sir, I've learned something new today! Been watching your videos for a long time.

[PendelSteven]

Personally I love that we in (mainland) Europe use E/F plugs. While technically F is the Shuko-plug, you'll find that many electrical devices and powercubes and -bricks accept both E (found as (older) French, Belgian, Tunesian and somehow Slovakian outlets) and F. The diffence is in grounding:: E adds a third plug, F has the grounding on the side. Both sides, so you can put the plug in upside down or not. And two plugs is simpler to plug in than three. All in all, I love our Schuko-system. And that also means we use Type C if grounding is not needed. Handy for, well, you find these still on 'boomboxes'.Or gameconsoles. Audioequipment. And your tv. But your computer is connected via Schuko, aka F. Thanks for the video! Now I know how good it is! ❤

[damionlee]

That ending fun rant was hilarious (I'm a Brit). Maybe one day we can all get together internationally and produce an IEEE standard for electricity distribution. Based on the age old model of identifying all the best bits given by the available systems, and then implementing the worst bits instead...

[usmcvet]

"I'm showing you mine, so you don't need to see yours."
- Technology Connections 2020

[nw]

Came home from a day of low voltage distribution design, saw the title here (working on a primary voltage conversion job, swapping out 50 odd transformers with all the end-user voltages you can make) and just wanted to see where you were going with that. Love the video, man. Keep it up!