Electricity? Never touch the stuff

You're totally right about the L1 and L2 labeling, and I have to admit for wiring the various 120/240 components you just have to make the right interconnections and not really know what's flowing in the wires. Where did phases come into the thread? I think it started with two comments that "it" is actually two 120 volt circuits. A risky oversimplification, IMO. Then post 19 asked an innocent question about connections and phases, which falls cleanly under the two 120 volt circuits umbrella. That's when the bottom fell out with a mix of correct and incorrect explanations related to phases. Looking from the other end of the EE spectrum, the low-level circuit end, I have a hard time viewing the 120/240 volt service as anything but phase relationships.