Quote:
Originally posted by rocinante2003
apparently theres alot of outages on our street. I guess we casn count ourself lucky because we have some power.
Does anyone know how that works, that we have some power to some rooms?
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If you have 220 volt service, which most of us in the US do, then you have two power wires and one return wire called a nuetral supplying your house. You can usually see these hanging across your backyard, unless you have underground service. Two will be black, covered with insulation, these are the power wires. The nuetral wire may be white, green, or tan. The bare wire is usually just cable to support the wires.
Once in the house the loads coming into your breaker box are split between the two power wires. This give you 110 volts from each power wire to the nuetral wire. If you lose power to one power wire, usually referred to as lost a phase, then all of the 110 volt loads on that wire will be dead.
Dryers, stoves, and heat and air units may be 220 volt and will recieve power from both wires.
The people that wired your house did not necessarily divide the rooms up 50/50 at your breaker box. Kitchens and laundry rooms take more power than bedrooms. This would explain why some rooms have power and some not. It is very possible that only one phase is energized coming into your house.