What type of electricity is supplied to the home?

Answer 1

The electricity from power plants travels for many miles. It travels over long wires called transmission lines. These transmission lines are held in the sky away from the ground by giant wood or metal transmission towers. Another way it is transmitted is through underground cables which can go under rivers, lakes and even seas.

When the electricity gets near to your town, it goes into a substation. A substation often has many wires and metal containers in it and is surrounded by a wire fence. The substation divides the electricity and sends it in different paths over wires called distribution lines. These distribution lines take the electricity to your home.

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More details

Most developed countries distribute electricity over something called a "national power grid" which is a nationwide network of very high voltage 3-phase ac (alternating current) transmission lines which are fed by many electricity generating stations - known as "power stations" - which are either operated by the government or by private businesses called power utility companies.

Power stations produce the electricity either by burning fossil fuels - such as coal, gas or oil - or the gases produced by the controlled biodegradation of domestic waste (trash or rubbish) or the waste products produced by farm-animals - which is known technically as "slurry" but many people would just call "animal poo" - or by using other sources of energy such as high waterfalls, nuclear power, solar energy from the Sun, wave energy from the sea, etc.

The nearest available power utility company's generating station typically supplies its nearest towns - or a whole city (or county) district - with high voltage 3-phase power and distributes it as separate lower voltage single-phase services, one phase per street or group of streets, so that every house, commercial office and/or industrial building situated on those streets gets its single-phase power.

The number of phases delivered from the street to a building depend on its power usage requirements: domestic homes and commercial offices typically only use single-phase lights and appliances, so such homes and offices usually only require single-phase power to be delivered from the street.

In addition, at extra cost, the local electricity utility company can install 3-phase power services for any buildings or sites - such as, for example, engineering workshops, vehicle repair garages, industrial factory buildings, mines and ore smelting sites, etc. - which must use powerful machine tools, motors, ovens, etc. that have to run on 3-phase power.

Answer 2

Alternating current (AC) because it doesn't lose power when transmitted like Direct current (DC) does.

The electricity that comes from the outlet in a home in the USA is AC (Alternating Current) the polarity (+/-) is alternated 30 times a second (60Hz). The voltage or electrical pressure is about 120 volts and the maximum amperage (electrical volume) is around 20 Amps.

The average home has 3 lines coming in from the local power grid. 2 are 120v each and one is a neutral line. For appliances such as stoves, clothes dryers etc... the two buses are used in one outlet. This outlet is usually different from other outlets in the home.

Answer 3

To best explain this, visualize the three primary line that you see on pole tops in industrial areas. The voltage between these three lines is about 14,400 volts. When you see a pod of three Transformers mounted together they are combined into a three phase system. From each of the three high voltage lines the voltage goes through three separate fuses and down to a high voltage bushing in each of the transformers. Inside the transformer the voltage goes through a coil and exits the transformer through a second high voltage bushing. This bushing is tied into the ground pad completing the circuit. This connection puts 7200 volts across the transformers primary coil. The secondary voltages of these transformers are determined by the customer that wants the three phase service. It could be 600,480 or 240 volts. Each single transformer has two output bushings. These bushings can be wired into either a delta or star configuration depending on what the customer ordered. In a single phase service the name is derived from just using one of the three primary lines that are used above. It is the same primary connection, but the secondary is a bit different. The output secondary coil has three bushings coming out of the transformer. On the two outside bushings is the working voltage (house connections 240 volts). The middle bushing is a center tap of the secondary coil. This gives a voltage of (bushing left to center 120 volts) and (bushing center to bushing right 120 volts) These are the three wires that come into a house for its 120/240 volt service.

Answer 4

Electricity is distributed via a consumer unit then on circuits to lights, sockets etc via cabling around the house usually buried in the walls so don't go drilling or banging nails into the wall without first checking using a detector.

Answer 5

Electricity is supplied around the house through a service distribution panel. From this panel specific circuit are wired to supply power to plugs, lights and appliances. Each circuit is protected by a breaker that is located in the distribution panel. These breakers vary in trip values to accommodate the load wattage's of different appliances that are connected to the circuit.

Answer 6

Alternating current is used in homes to operate appliances.