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Why do the sockets in your house have two holes and three holes?

October 23, 2023

Sockets are very common in our lives. Your home appliances need to be plugged into the socket, your own computer needs to be plugged into the socket, and your cell phone charger should also be plugged into the socket.

In professional terms, the socket is the terminal for power supply and distribution in the power system. It allows you to plug and use electricity, and you participate in the entire huge power system through the socket.

Most of the electrical appliances in your home use single-phase electricity, but they cannot work by being connected to a single-phase live wire alone. Single-phase appliances require two wires to work.

One end of it is connected to the live wire, which is any one phase of the three-phase electricity, and the other end is connected to the neutral wire. In this way, the plug from a single-phase electrical appliance has two copper pins, so the socket it is inserted into requires two jacks.

This is why many sockets in your home have two holes.

Then why are there still some sockets in your home with three holes? The extra hole beyond the two-prong outlet is connected to the ground wire, which is connected to your building’s grounding system and ultimately to the ground. The electrical potential of the earth is zero.

Why do we need to connect a ground wire? This is to ensure your safety. This ground wire is connected to the casing of the appliance through the socket and plug. Three-hole sockets are generally used for some high-power electrical appliances.

In case the metal casing of your high-power electrical appliance leaks, with a three-hole socket, it doesn’t matter even if you touch it. Because this shell is connected to the earth through the ground wire of the plug and socket, the potential of the shell is forced to zero so that you will not get electrocuted.

So some of the sockets in your home have three holes.

There are more sockets and switches for you to choose from.professional electric switch socket manufacturers bring a better life experience to your family.

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