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Increasing demand factors in residential
by gfretwell - 03/28/24 12:43 AM
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240V only in a home and NEC?
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 613
M
Member
Tesla that is not the arc of this discussion the sparks are a good illustration of the challenge for DC switches and interruption of current flow.
At 24 VDC it is impossible to create a self sustaining arc where the air actually changes to plasma and becomes a conductor.
The AC voltage threashold is around 250 VAC and a lot of laboratory time is being spent to prove it as there are some that maintain a 208 volt system cannot sustain an arc.
The shower of sparks that is the result of a hot wire touching a ground has an arc component but the spark is about the air gap required to interrupt the current.

I am not too happy about my explanation either as it is a difficult nuance to explain.

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,498
T
Member
Unfortunately there were 110 V AC arc lamps, so I'd challenge that assumption.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
I have a buzz box welder that operates at less than 240v too.


Greg Fretwell
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