My simple understanding of electricity is that you always need a circuit (from + to -, or from hot to neutral), in order for current to flow.
Now, I recently had to fix my water heater (which is running on 240V), and noticed that the heating element basically consists of two hot legs (at 120V each) coming together. There is no neutral, no ground, just two hots (e.g. like this).
How does that work??? Where's the circuit? Why doesn't it just explode? 😉
P.S. I know I have 240V in my house, and that I get it by combining to 120V legs. But what I don't understand is how a heating element can work by just having two hot legs come in; without any neutral to close the circuit.
For those of you who have never seen those heating elements, this is what it looks like: https://imgur.com/ek6Bxeu
Two connectors that basically each receive 120V, with about 10Ω between them.
Best Answer
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
You have two 120V circuits in your house, they stack up to 240V nicely.