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In a home circuit are the neutral and ground bare wires always connected?
Pbarry
They are always connected, but at one and only one place, the service entrance. For instance, if you are adding a subpanel to an existing house, the subpanel will probably come with the ground bus and the neutral bus tied together with a special bonding screw. To be legal, you must remove this screw, isolating the neutral from ground. The house's main panel still has the bonding screw or jumper in place, and remains the only place the connection is made.
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∙ 15y ago
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Does the ground wire from a 240 volt tankless water heater connect to the common wire?
Any ground wire has to be connected to an independent ground wire that returns directly to the distribution panel and not to the neutral of the circuit.
In the typical home electrical panel installation the main ground wire is connected directly from a ground rod driven into the ground to the?
In North American residential homes, there are 3 wires coming from the utility company, two "hots" and neutral. The two "hot" conductors get connected to the main breaker. The neutral gets connected to the neutral bus bars located along the sides of the breaker box. There is a set screw that is placed in the neutral bar that screws into the distribution panel enclosure thereby bringing the potential of the neutral bars down to zero. The wire from your ground rod is also connected to the neutral bus bar, and thereby it is connected to the neutral from the power company. This is also often bonded to the copper cold water plumbing in the house if the home is not plumbed in PVC water pipe. White circuit wires are then connected to the neutral bus bars. Also in the distribution panel are ground bus bars. The ground wires from circuit cables are connected to these grounding bars. Do not under any circumstance terminate the white and bare ground wires together. Ground wires to the ground bar and white wires to the neutral bar.
Is it OK illegal or dangerous to connect the neutral to ground to make the circuit work?
If you have to connect the neutral to ground to make the circuit work then you have an open neutral in your circuit. Be careful in handling the neutral as there can be voltage potential on the neutral if a load is connected. In a properly wired home that has been inspected by the local electrical inspector the neutral should be bonded to the ground at the main service distribution point. There will be a green screw that projects through the neutral bus and is threaded into the back of the electrical panel. This should be the one and only place in the whole electrical system where this neutral to ground connection takes place. Dangerous!!!!! The ground is the safety to prevent you from getting shocked due to a malfunctioning piece of equipment. By using the ground for a neutral you will be energizing the entire ground system of you house or business. Thus anything with metal on it and a ground wire going to it will be electrified if the ground fails at the breaker box or building ground rod. Do you want to take this risk? Not I..........
What would cause 5 volts to be sensed at water supply pipe?
The water pipe is not properly grounded AND there is a ground fault or neutral imbalance in the house. Alternatively, there could be a neutral problem. In an ideally balanced house, the current on one hot leg balances the current on the other. This means that there is no current on neutral. In practice, there is some imbalance, and that common mode current does flow on neutral. If a circuit has a ground fault, the current return for that circuit is on ground, instead of neutral. That is wrong, and must be corrected. However - neutral and ground ARE connected together at the distribution panel. They are also connected at the street, so imbalance current could flow through ground instead of neutral. How much voltage is dependent on how much impedance. If there is a voltage at the house ground, and no ground fault or major imbalance, it calls into question the adequacy of the ground path, however, it is also possible that neutral is open, causing the imbalance current to flow through ground alone.
What does neutral wire failure do?
Neutral wires are actually ground wires. They enable the circuit to be completed.
Does the neutral wire have a charge in a gfci circuit breaker?
No. Not if the GFCI is wired correctly. The neutral wire should always be cold, or at ground potential.
In typical home electrical panel installation the main ground wire is connected directly from a ground rod driven into the ground to the?
In North American residential homes, there are 3 wires coming from the utility company, two "hots" and neutral. The two "hot" conductors get connected to the main breaker. The neutral gets connected to the neutral bus bars located along the sides of the breaker box. There is a set screw that is placed in the neutral bar that screws into the distribution panel enclosure thereby bringing the potential of the neutral bars down to zero. The wire from your ground rod is also connected to the neutral bus bar, and thereby it is connected to the neutral from the power company. This is also often bonded to the copper cold water Plumbing in the house if the home is not plumbed in PVC water pipe. White circuit wires are then connected to the neutral bus bars. Also in the distribution panel are ground bus bars. The ground wires from circuit cables are connected to these grounding bars. Do not under any circumstance terminate the white and bare ground wires together. Ground wires to the ground bar and white wires to the neutral bar.
Why not hook ground to neutral since they are hooked on same spot in breaker box why not in outlet box.?
The "hot" wire and the neutral wire both carry current (the same amount, in fact) when a load is connected to complete the circuit. The ground wire never carries current except when a fault-to-ground situation occurs. Yes, neutral and ground wires should both be at ground potential, but NO they should not be connected at the outlet.
Why is it that when you touch the neutral in a box that is not connect to the panel cause the test light to come when touching the power wire?
It shouldn't. The open end of a non connected neutral should have the same potential as the voltage feeding the circuit. The only time a voltage will show is when the return neutral is tested with a meter to the neutral bar or the ground return bar. It will then show what the supply voltage to the connected load is. Once this neutral is connected to the neutral bar there will be no voltage shown across the test meter between the neutral and the neutral bar or the ground bar.
Does the ground wire from a 240 volt tankless water heater connect to the common wire?
Any ground wire has to be connected to an independent ground wire that returns directly to the distribution panel and not to the neutral of the circuit.
In the typical home electrical panel installation the main ground wire is connected directly from a ground rod driven into the ground to the?
In North American residential homes, there are 3 wires coming from the utility company, two "hots" and neutral. The two "hot" conductors get connected to the main breaker. The neutral gets connected to the neutral bus bars located along the sides of the breaker box. There is a set screw that is placed in the neutral bar that screws into the distribution panel enclosure thereby bringing the potential of the neutral bars down to zero. The wire from your ground rod is also connected to the neutral bus bar, and thereby it is connected to the neutral from the power company. This is also often bonded to the copper cold water plumbing in the house if the home is not plumbed in PVC water pipe. White circuit wires are then connected to the neutral bus bars. Also in the distribution panel are ground bus bars. The ground wires from circuit cables are connected to these grounding bars. Do not under any circumstance terminate the white and bare ground wires together. Ground wires to the ground bar and white wires to the neutral bar.
What does neutral do?
Neutral wires are actually ground wires. They enable the circuit to be completed.
Why is the ground wire hot at all outlet boxes on a particular circuit?
Most likely the ground (green) wire is mistakenly connected to hot instead of the hot wire (black) at the breaker panel! Possibly you meant the neutral wire not the ground wire, in that case most likely the neutral (white) wire is mistakenly connected to hot instead of the hot wire (black) at the breaker panel! In either case check all three wires in the breaker panel for that circuit to make sure they are all correctly connected! Black is hot, White is neutral, Green (or uninsulated in some cases) is ground.
Is it OK illegal or dangerous to connect the neutral to ground to make the circuit work?
If you have to connect the neutral to ground to make the circuit work then you have an open neutral in your circuit. Be careful in handling the neutral as there can be voltage potential on the neutral if a load is connected. In a properly wired home that has been inspected by the local electrical inspector the neutral should be bonded to the ground at the main service distribution point. There will be a green screw that projects through the neutral bus and is threaded into the back of the electrical panel. This should be the one and only place in the whole electrical system where this neutral to ground connection takes place. Dangerous!!!!! The ground is the safety to prevent you from getting shocked due to a malfunctioning piece of equipment. By using the ground for a neutral you will be energizing the entire ground system of you house or business. Thus anything with metal on it and a ground wire going to it will be electrified if the ground fails at the breaker box or building ground rod. Do you want to take this risk? Not I..........
What would cause 5 volts to be sensed at water supply pipe?
The water pipe is not properly grounded AND there is a ground fault or neutral imbalance in the house. Alternatively, there could be a neutral problem. In an ideally balanced house, the current on one hot leg balances the current on the other. This means that there is no current on neutral. In practice, there is some imbalance, and that common mode current does flow on neutral. If a circuit has a ground fault, the current return for that circuit is on ground, instead of neutral. That is wrong, and must be corrected. However - neutral and ground ARE connected together at the distribution panel. They are also connected at the street, so imbalance current could flow through ground instead of neutral. How much voltage is dependent on how much impedance. If there is a voltage at the house ground, and no ground fault or major imbalance, it calls into question the adequacy of the ground path, however, it is also possible that neutral is open, causing the imbalance current to flow through ground alone.
Why neutral to ground voltage is 0v sometime 120 v in same connection?
When the neutral is connected to the ground they are at the same potential which is zero volts. If the neutral gets disconnected from the ground then a potential of 120 volts will be measured from the open neutral to ground. This voltage is being measured from the neutral side of the load that is on the circuit. because they are actually the same cable at sub station, but split by the time they come to the board, long answer involved but that's the jist of it!
How do you find phase and neutral in the circuit?
Neutral will be closest to protective earth ground. In the US, neutral is white. we can check using tester ,when tester is connected to phase only lamp of the tester glows and when it is connected to the nuetral the lamp does not glow. another method is, connect the voltmeter to any one of the terminal and ground if the voltmeter shows 110v 0r 220v then it is phase and the other is nuetral.
