240 V Is the Cheapest Wire You Will Ever Buy

There is exactly one free lunch in conductor sizing: raise the voltage. The same power at 240 V instead of 120 V means half the current — and half the current means half the absolute drop against a budget that is now twice as many volts. Net effect: 4× the deliverable distance for identical wire, or the same distance on dramatically smaller copper.

The worked pair

A 1500 W load, 200 ft away, 3% budget: at 120 V (12.5 A) the solver demands 6 AWG copper. At 240 V (6.25 A) the same load and distance passes on 12 AWG — five sizes and several dollars per foot smaller.

How to actually use it

• Pure 240 V loads (heaters, pumps, compressors, EVSE): order the 240 V version of the equipment whenever it exists. It usually costs the same.
• Outbuildings: never run a long 120 V circuit — run a 240 V multiwire or small feeder and split to 120 V at a subpanel in the building. Same trench, quarter the drop.
• Remote 120 V-only loads (gate operators, far receptacles): run 240 V out and place a small stepdown transformer at the load end. The gate opener preset shows why — at 400 ft, the transformer pays for itself in copper instantly.

The same logic, continued: 480 V three-phase moves industrial power, and doubling DC system voltage from 12 V to 24 V quarters the copper in a van build. Volts are cheaper than metal, every time the equipment allows the choice.