this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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Heat pumps continue to push fossil fuels out of Canadian homes (440megatonnes.ca)
submitted 1 week ago by Sunshine to c/canada
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Do Canadian homes use mostly 120 V wiring like the US, or 240 V wiring like the UK?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

120 for most applications but 240 for things like stoves, dryers, heat pumps, car chargers, etc.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Note that the 240V outlets in Canada are actually just two separate 120V circuits plus a neutral. This is different from a UK outlet which has 240V AC on a single conductor and then a neutral and a protective earth.

[–] Rentlar 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Residential Outlets are 120V which most household small appliances and lights plug in. Oven ranges, laundry dryers, air conditioning units use 240V. Essentially they have two inverted phases: -120V, +120V to supply 240V across the two ends, usually with a NEMA 14-30 or 14-50 type plug.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've always found this fascinating about Canada and the US. Both legs are +/- 120V potential to ground, and 240V between them. Here in Australia, everything in my house is 230V between active(hot) and neutral, both for plug in appliances and hard wired stuff like my heat pump (We call it a reverse cycle air conditioner here). Almost every house I've ever lived in has had one.

My old resistive clothes dryer just plugged into a standard 10A outlet like everything else. My current heat pump dryer uses 1/5 the energy though and has already paid for the extra purchase cost over the past three years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The difference I would note is that in North America those 240V plugs aren’t likely going to be on a 10A circuit — usually they’re going to be more in the range of 30A to 50A, as they’re typically designated in homes for use by a dryer or a range (and if you’re lucky, in the garage for an EV).

That’s not to say you couldn’t run a lower amperage 240V circuit — there just aren’t a lot of practical uses for doing so (I believe some air conditioners only need 15A 240V circuits, but in my (limited) experience these are usually hard-wired, and aren’t plug-in devices).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

We do have 15, 20, and 25A sockets, but these (especially the latter two) are quite uncommon (in the home) and most appliances which require more than 10A are hardwired on dedicated circuits such as for ovens, cooktops and ranges. Our typical clothes dryers just plug in though, with hardwired mainly found in laundromats and other commercial spaces.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Mostly 120V, but some appliances require 240V.

Thermostats typically use 24V for controls which I believe is considered low-voltage wiring.