At 09:00 PM 5/16/2014, JRodgers wrote:
>What kind of domestic power is it that is supplied to a house/shop
>using only a single wire/cable. I've never seen it done here, but in
>South America single wire power is run over great distances to meet
>the needs of remote farms while at the same time keeping costs down.
>Have  you ever seen this single wire stuff??

Sounds like Single Wire Earth Return, a method with a lot of
advantages for rural distribution.  It takes a hit in efficiency, but
both first cost and maintenance of the plant are a lot cheaper
(originally they were put up using galvanized fence wire for the
conductor -- apparently now it's more likely to be aluminum-clad
steel.  Seems like a pretty good article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return .

Yrs,
d