[Amps] Electricity costs

[Dr. David Kirkby]

Steve wrote:
> I copied Colin's post about 110/220V operating to a couple of friends.
> 
> One replied:
> 
> "It reminds me of my Nan. She had this electric fire running 3 bars all 
> day. We suggested that it might be costing her a fortune. She said, it 
> wasn't costing her a penny since she had borrowed it from next door."
> 
> Now there's an interesting concept :-)
> 
> Steve
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An ex work colleague of mine told me it often possible to get some electricity 
free, by using the voltage between earth and neutral. These are tied together at 
the local sub-station, but at your house they probably have different slightly 
potentials. Making use of this, will not be detected by your electric meter.

There's no doubt in my house, if neutral and earth are shorted, the 30 mA RCD 
will trip, so I'm assuming I could get > 30 mA, but the voltage is quite low, so 
I do not think you will run a 3 bar electric fire from it. Perhaps enough to 
light a few LEDs.

It goes without saying, but bypassing RCDs to get free electricity like this 
would have safety implications.


Dave