Electricity? Never touch the stuff

road-runner wrote:

OMG... I wish people would stop referring to "phases" in reference to 120/240 volt circuits and services.

You might have a tough time with this. For examples, I used google to search for "120/240 volt circuits and services", and 4 of the first 5 hits talked about phase. My similar thing is that I wish people would stop bringing up calories when I go for the cookies or chips.

I spent a career as an EE in the construction biz and can tell you it's always been line 1 & line 2. Go look at a 120/240 volt panel, meter base or fused disconnect switch somewhere and see what the labeling says on it. A 120/240 volt circuit/service is commonly called "single phase" but each hot leg is never referred to as a phase.

Go by what internet "pros" say if you want tho...