lowdominion said:

oh and to answer your other question no you can't put two 120 cords together and make 220 out of it

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trendal said:

if this is, indeed, the case, to power an appliance that requires
220v, could I simply bridge two 120v wall sockets?

No this won't work. To get the 240v you need to bridge two separate lines. Most wall sockets in any given room should be on the same line.

In your fuse box there are two steel bars running along the back, which are each a 120v bus. In most boxes I have seen it is set up so that the breakers alternate which bus they are attatched to. Something like:

1212121212
2121212121

So if you have one of those 2-slot breakers, you can see that your breaker connects to BOTH bus 1 and 2. That gives it 240v.

Each bus connects on a separate line back to the utility pole or transformer.

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Quote:

A transformer connected to a 3-wire distribution system has a single phase input (primary) winding. The output (secondary) winding is centre-tapped with a conductor called the neutral on the centre tap, which is normally connected to earth ground. Split phase is most common in countries with a standard phase-neutral voltage of 120V (or thereabouts). In this case, the transformer is rated 120 volts on either side of the centre tap, giving 240 volts between the two ungrounded terminals. It is also feasible to have a 240V/480V split phase system and this is sometimes used in the UK for running large farms or groups of a few houses off a single transformer where only two of the 3 phase cores of the 11KV systems are availible (its a lot cheaper to run two wires than 3). However with such systems power is usually split out to single ended single phase before entering the houses.

The neutral conductor ensures that the voltages on the two legs do not get (far) out of balance. Lighting and small appliances operating at 120 V can be directly supplied, by connection between a live wire and the neutral. By distributing the load between the two live conductors, the system provides better voltage regulation and allows for the use of smaller conductors than a single-ended single phase system would allow. Large applicances, such as cooking equipment, space heating, water pumps, clothes dryers, and air conditioners are connected across the two live conductors and operate at 240 V, requiring less current and smaller conductors than they would need at 120 V. No individual conductor will be at more than 120 V potential with respect to ground (earth) possibly reducing the insulation requirements compared to a 240-volt single-ended system.

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lowdominion said:

for 220 you would need to get a 220 volt breaker on you panel that will take up 2 120 slots check to see if you have enough room then you just need to run 1 circuit to an appropriately rated outlet

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