Can I run single phase equipment on three phase power?
Can I run single phase equipment on three phase power?Yes, you are doing it now. Power is generated as 3 phase power, then distributed as 3 phase power. At some point, at a substation or at a powerpole, only one of those 3 phases is distributed into a neighborhood.Who gets what phase is chosen to try and balance the loads as much as possible.In any large commercial building, 3 phase power is brought to the building. Large loads like HVAC will use 3 phase motors. But all of the internal wiring for the outlets are all single phase. But they are divided up among the 3 phases. So 1/3 of the lighting will be powered from one phase, the next 1/3 from the next phase, the last 1/3 from the third phase.The same process is done for the outlets.Some effort goes into balancing, so that when most of the lights are shut off at night, the remaining lights are not all on the same phase. If there are power hungry single phase loads such as copy machines, ovens, etc., they are placed on different phases so no one phase has a lot more power drawn during the course of a day.But you don’t plug single phase equipment into all three phases.
Can I use a 120 V device on a 110 V power supply?
You don’t plug an appliance into a “plug”. A plug is the male connector on the end of a cord. You can’t plug a plug into a plug.Maybe you meant a “receptacle” or “socket”. In the US, 110V isn’t a standard voltage. Almost all receptacles supply 120 to 125V. But appliances are usually designed to work with a range of voltages. 110V is only 8% lower than 120V, so even if the voltage is only 110V, say at the end of a long line, any 120V appliance should work fine.
Why is 240 volts more dangerous then 120 volts when amps can kill you?
The more volts an outlet has, the more amps it can pump into you. A 240V outlet can pump twice as many amps into you as a 120V outlet. Remember the equation V=IR from physics class? Volts and amps are linked. Double one, and you double the other.