More old mains sockets removed

 Workshopshed only thing I can say is thank god I dont live in the UK! 220 mains~ that will kill you if you get wrapped up in it. I have been bitten by US mains (120) and Im still here!! When I lived in Asbury Park I lived in a Victorian, and did rehab on it. First problem was Knob and Tubing, then no safety ground, ouch. This pic from my house in Farmers Branch, North Dallas. The SOB used a doubled up single box and had the wires bare going from one box to another.  Plus the ground wire, bare-bright copper ground never went to the send box. I don't think the switches had grounds. But the use of the two boxes instead of double gang and the stunt with the wires where VERBOTEN!.  

 Workshopshed only thing I can say is thank god I dont live in the UK! 220 mains~ that will kill you if you get wrapped up in it. I have been bitten by US mains (120) and Im still here!! When I lived in Asbury Park I lived in a Victorian, and did rehab on it. First problem was Knob and Tubing, then no safety ground, ouch. This pic from my house in Farmers Branch, North Dallas. The SOB used a doubled up single box and had the wires bare going from one box to another.  Plus the ground wire, bare-bright copper ground never went to the send box. I don't think the switches had grounds. But the use of the two boxes instead of double gang and the stunt with the wires where VERBOTEN!.  

Been shocked a couple of times with 240v whilst working on a prototype light dimmer. Luckily the RCD triggered and although very shaken I wasn't dead. My testing approach has changed significantly since then.

However, having seen US electrics, I would suggest you stick with 110v.

We do have special "site" transformers which bring the voltage down to 110v or as I recently discovered it's actually plus/minus 50v.

Although I believe the US system is actually a centre tap off 240v to give you the 110v.

Our main breaker here is just 100A which is pretty standard here.

 phoenixcomm Don't forget the shared neutral that was commonplace up to about 2011.  You can still get bit by the grounded circuit conductor - even if the breaker is open - on a shared neutral system. 

 Workshopshed  Sorry when I talk about 120/110 Its one half of the 240 so you end up with 240 main = {Hot-120} + Neutral +  {Hot-120} the 240 is handled by the main beaker which is on both poles! 

 kmikemoo Not in new construction, But it did happen to me twice. once when I lived in Princeton, NJ. the  house used Wire-mold  (metal) all around the house the problem that he assumed the metal stayed a 'good" ground!! when I use the metal conduit or Wire-mold I always with out exception a bare-bright!!! The other time I was living in LA by the beach but worked for Hughes Aircraft. I was doing both sustaining engineer of the Satellite ATE, and support in the High Bay where we worked on the birds there were normally about 8 or so in the bay at any one time  and my lab was connected the high bay they used to come to me with problems, They had a brand new hp spectrum analyzer that was rack mounted and It would not say running it would reboot and when they got it back from test equipment repair, the problem persisted. So I was asked to look at it as they really needed the beast. well I plugged it in put an antenna  on it and listened to FM!! The next day it was still running so I told them to come and get it, and it passed with flying colors. later that day they came back and told me it rebooted again. I grabbed my Fluke and went to the high bay. I opened the back of the rack it was a maze of alligator clips and wire! I basically said WTF! And while leaning on the rack with one hand and the other on the clip. Well I got knocked to the floor. I told them I would return a little later and pulled out the 100a pull-out. I went upstairs to my boss and told him what happened, I told him what I thought was wrong, he promptly agreed.  I grabbed a 100a lock-out device, and called the guy in charge of the gantry crane!  Remember I was doing sustaining? I was for the ATE's Power Controller unit which was under the floor! Meanwhile back on the floor as my jack-stands appeared (floor was about 10x10') and the crane started moving Flight came down to find out what the hell I was doing. as my boss was over flight as we controlled the high-bay I told him to call my boss. At that time we attached the rings to the ATE system and started to lift it. The RF-guy came over and ask the same thing he said I would damage the wave guide. so I told him to uncouple it. I got the box opened up and saw was the ass-holes did. In the Box there Is a 100A breaker, and a 100+A RFI filter. CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WAS WRONG! Should be Pull-Out, RFI  Filter, Circuit Beaker... NOPE they had in Pull-Out, Circuit Beaker, RFI Filter. and one side shorted to ground.. I went upstairs to my office and grabbed out of a new box the RFI-Filter, and Circuit Breaker. Replaced them both and check to system, shut it down and REMOVED THE RATS NEST of Gator Clips!! ~~ Cris BTW each one of the ATE in the bay was Inspected half where wired wrong!!

In Australia and New Zealand with 240v MEN (multiple earth neutral) where each house has its own earth and that is connected to the comon neutral at each house works fine when you grow up with it 

then in most houses before 1970 you had 2 phases ( to share the load ) as it was 3 phase on the pole 

so when looking at 3ph this is 415 between 2 phases 

when it gets scarey is when the neutral becomes disconnected between the house and the pole

EG turn on 1000w stove element (from phase A) and 150w tv and light on (from phase b)  

so with no neutral the 230v tv gets 415v and dies. 

another fright is from when we had Hotels with VCR's

walk into a hotel with 40 rooms to work on aerial system

aerial was earthed with roof 

there was 1 brand of VCR that had 5m ohm resister between phase and neutral to body

so you got to wear it when you unplugged the  aerial amplifier