When I worked at a place in WARREN, Michigan, it had 3-phase 120, with a higher voltage between the three legs. The three phases were adequate to power the 3-phase motors on the shop machines.

 

When I worked at a place in WARREN, Michigan, it had 3-phase 120, with a higher voltage between the three legs. The three phases were adequate to power the 3-phase motors on the shop machines.

Never saw it for 120 VAC. Apparently it does exist. Live and learn.

Ron

 

I will add that I have never seen 120 VAC 3 phase

Neither have I. But I made the assumption that it exists.

 

When people say "120V 3-phase," they are almost always referring to a 208Y/120V 3-phase Wye system, which is extremely common in US commercial, apartment, and light industrial buildings.

 

wraujr called it exactly right!! And in the area where that shop was located the voltages were not quite equal. The 3-phase motors ran OK, but my recollection is that for the 120 volt phases , one leg was a bit less.

 

From the outlook of the poles, bushings and cables present in a line, is there any way to tell how many KV the line is? In my country there are lines of 33KV, 11KV, 440V and 220V. But I don't know (or maybe I read at the University and forgot) how to identify which line is carrying how many volts.

 

is there any way to tell how many KV the line is?

You can tell roughly by the length of the insulators on the power poles.

According to Google AI:


220V and 440V lines would likely just have a short, single insulator.

 

In Addition to the information in post#47, consider also what the various different voltages are connected to: 120, 220, and 440 volt lines would connect directly to a power user of some kind, mostly thru some sort of meter used to measure power used. The higher voltage lines will include both step-down transformers and switch-gear of some sort. At transformer connections the higher voltage lines always connect to the taller insulators of the transformers, often thru a fuse or a switch of some sort.