Most appliances sold in the U.S. these days can handle 130-volts without any
problems.
As far as incandescent light bulbs go, yes, the 120-volt bulbs sold in most
places burn out in a hurry with the higher ambient line voltage. There are
130-volt bulbs available but most stores do not stock them because when a
person switches to the 130-volt bulbs the sale of light bulbs goes down
drastically! Some times, at home-improvement centers, your can purchase bulbs
for 130-volts. But, again, they are usually displayed in places that one does
not see them right away.
Of course, with the restriction on the efficiency of light bulbs now coming in
the United State, things are going to be different.
When I was with TXU I was on the "speakers bureau" which provided speakers for
clubs, organizations, etc., at no cost. My topics were usually grounding and
lightning protection although I got "drafted" to present talks on nuclear power
generation. No matter what the topic, I usually got at least one question from
the audience as to why the light bulbs did not last as long as they did in the
past. My standard answer was to get 130-volt bulbs. When I happened to "run
into" someone who was at one of my presentations where the question was asked,
they would tell me that they did find 130-volt bulbs and were not having any
problems with the light bulbs failing.
As for any regulations requiring the higher voltage there are none, at least
that I have heard of. As for failing appliances, they just don't fail because
the vast majority can handle higher voltages.
Glen, K9STH
Website: http://k9sth.com
________________________________
From: Manfred Mornhinweg <manfred@ludens.cl>
To: amps@contesting.com
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Amps] Lines Voltage High
Hi Glen, and all,
it's funny to see how things develop differently, depending on the country!
> The ambient line voltage in this country has not been 110-volts for a
> long time. ?This voltage has been increased from 110-volts to
> 115-volts, then to 117-volts, then 120-volts, then 122-volts, and
> finally, today, 125-volts. ?The primary reason for increasing the
> voltage is that the customer pays by the kilowatt-hour. ?Modern
> appliances require more kilowatt-hours and the distribution lines
> (the lines supplying the power to your house) have a fixed resistance
> which drop the voltage as the current goes higher. ?
It's true that you can supply more power, and have lower loss, by
applying higher voltage to the grid. But I wonder how the appliances
cope with that? Sure, many electronic things take anything from 90 to
250V, and they will be fine. But stuff without this flexibility, like
motors, light bulbs, and tube type amps, rated for old 110V or slightly
less old 115V, will have a hard time coping with 125V.
Do the power companies reimburse customers for burnt appliances?
Or is the voltage increased by law, and every citizen is responsible for
updating all his appliances to the new and everchanging standard?
In Chile we are going the opposite way. Our "legal" line voltage is, and
has been for a very long time, 220V. The legally allowed tolerance is
plus/minus 7.5%. But in recent years our bright governments have decided
that by lowering the line voltage, the country becomes more
energy-efficient (don't ask them for a technical explanation, as they
are politicians, not engineers!), and several successive energy saving
decrees have been passed, that force the power companies to drop the
line voltage by 5 or even 10% from the nominal value! So, at this time
many Chileans have to make do with 200V or even less. In the evenings
that can drop to 190 or 185V, due to line losses. Given that most
appliances used in Chile are rated for 220-240V, which covers the Latin
American standard of 220V, the continental European one of 230V, and the
UK/Australian one of 240V, people here are running their appliances in
average about 15% or more below their optimal voltage. That's NOT good.
You can hear everyday on the HF bands how many hams transmit with a a
terrible frequency flutter, because their power supplies just can't
maintain regulation when the line voltage is that low, and the
oscillators in the radios are pulled around!
I'm happily unaffected by this, because I make my own power. Right now I
have 225V at my outlets.
As it looks, the line voltages in the US and in Chile seem to be
converging! Perhaps in 20 or 30 years we will share the same line
voltage, of around 160V or so...! ;-)
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