This mofo draw over 2 amps on 120v can't play 4k but beat Hawking ass back at SETI.

https://youtu.be/6vvu1l7IWUc

120v is for girls. I use 240V in the UK. You guys waste copper.

Perhaps, but the US has far fewer annual household electrocution fatalities per capita. In any case, the US runs on 240V split phase, so high power household applications run on 240V between the phases and everything else runs on 120V phase to neutral (earth/ground).

Less electrocutions of those who need to be removed from the gene pool anyway, and more fires. And the same device runs at lower power and less efficiently in your country. And you have an insanely complicated fusebox with 50% more wires! Assuming you also use nancy boy circuit breakers, how you get those to sense earth leakage when you have a split phase I'll never know, that would need a super computer to work out current through two live legs and neutral and work out if it adds up! Anyway, you guys have 11kV running down the street! We have 240V from one big transformer at the end of the street, fed by underground HV cables. Also, where do you plug in a 3kW electric kettle?! You must have different sockets all over the place - NEMA 5-15, NEMA 5-20, NEMA 14-30, NEMA 14-50, NEMA 6-20, ..... We just plug anything in anywhere, with a fuse inside the plug! No melted cables!

This discussion doesn't relate to number crunching even if the thread did start here.

Do you have a source about the fires? The information available to me indicates that the UK has about 1/3 as many residential electrical fires as the US with about 1/5 as many people, so more fires on a normalized basis. You're entitled to your opinion regarding the mortality statistics.

GFCI depends on the active lines summing to zero. In other words, the current out must be balanced by the current in the return leg. A single sensing loop around both/all the relevant lines is sufficient. If a net current of a few milliamps is detected, it trips and disables the circuit until reset. No computation is involved, just physics.

There are no overhead power lines in my neighborhood. There's a transformer vault for each 6-8 houses. As far as I know, that's been standard for new urban/suburban development for many years--at least a couple of decades before this neighborhood was developed in 1990. New York City went to all underground utilities around 1900, other areas have followed on their own schedules. Rural areas are generally still using overhead distribution, but that's driven by cost. Existing overhead distribution neighborhoods are seldom converted to underground--few are willing to pay for it.

The only receptacle in common residential use here is 120V 5-15. I had one piece of lab equipment that used 240V 6-15 but that was long ago. 120V 5-20 exists but isn't common; I can't recall the last time I saw one in a residential application. Maybe some kitchen appliance? Most houses have one 6-30 for a tumble drier and one 6-50 for a kitchen range/cooker. Those are generally plugged in and never touched until the appliance is replaced. Alternatively, they may be hardwired. Some systems use NEMA 14 receptacles instead of NEMA 6. Things like electric heat and water heaters are usually hardwired, if present.

Why would I want to plug in a 3 kW kettle? The 1500 W kettle that I have boils a liter of water before I have everything else ready. It doesn't see much use, though, since I don't often drink tea. The coffee maker that sees daily use is well under 1 kW.

More amps more heat more fire risk.

I see, I admit I've never really thought about how GFCI works because I use fuses, remember those lovely things which never trip falsely?

In my area of 3 streets encompassing 130 houses, there is one transformer. All cables are underground. Everything I see in the US on TV has a pole transformer for each house. In rural areas we have overheads but they are 240V. Not sure I'd like to crash my car into an 11kV pole....

We use loads of 3kW devices. A kettle which you don't have to wait for. A fan heater which does more than warm up two of your toes. A dryer which you can plug in anywhere - no need for a special circuit, just stick one in the garage and plug it into a standard outlet. Want it somewhere else next year? Just move it. Washing machine is the same as it heats the water with 3kW.