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Is a ground fault protection for equipment required even if the neutral will not be used?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Yes, ground fault protection for equipment is requiredeven if the neutral will not be used.
However, the question implies that it might not be required if there is a neutral. That is not true. With two exceptions, ground fault protection is always required in the US, and it is probably required in other countries as well.
The exceptions are the use of an electric cooking range, and an electric clothes dryer. In those cases, the US NEC allows the neutral conductor to also be the ground fault conductor, except for the case where the range or dryer is in a mobile home. In the case of the mobile home, the ground fault conductor and the neutral conductor must be maintained separate and distinct all the way back to the distribution panel.
In every other case, including where local code overrides the US NEC's exceptions, it must be understood that ground fault protection (protective earth ground) is not the same as neutral, even though the neutral conductor is grounded.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
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What is neutral to ground fault?
Neutral, by definition, is grounded at the distribution panel, and also at the distribution pole. That is how the hot to ground voltages are prevented from exceeding their normal voltage and encroaching on truly lethal voltages, such as 7.6kV in a typical US 13.2kV system, in a wye configuration.Note: and this is critical, do not depend on the fact that neutral is grounded and consider that it is the same as protective earth ground. It is not. Protective earth ground is a different wire.
What is grounding - grounded - neutral?
A) If low resistance configuration is chosen, then, ground fault current is greater than 25% of 3-phase value. B) If high resistance configuration is chosen, then, ground fault current is between 1 to 5% of 3-phase value. C) Ground fault protection scheme is important because affects resistor thermal rating, hence size. D) For B) above, ground fault current must not be less than system charging current produced by phase to ground capacitance in 11 kV system. E) For D) above, total capacitance calculation must include line to ground capacitance of cables, motors, transformers, and (often forgotten) surge protection capacitors, as well as lightning arrestors. shirish prajapati
Can you glow led by using neutral and earth?
If you connected neutral and earth (ground) to each lead in an LED and it glowed then this would be evidence of a ground fault.
Why neutral ground voltage is 120v sometime 0v?
There should be no voltage on the neutral wire to ground. This is a serious situation. Call a qualified electrician to check this out.
What is ground fault protection?
GFI's (Ground Fault Interruptors) measure the difference between the hot conductor current and the neutral current. In a normal (no fault) circuit, every single milliamp of current flowing out of the hot should return through the neutral. In other words, the two currents should be equal. If there is a ground fault, at least some of the current flows from the hot. through the fault path, to ground. In this case the neutral current is less than the hot current by however much is flowing to ground. The GFI senses this difference and trips, opening the circuit. GFI's are designed to protect equipment from damage and trip at around 30 ma. of differential current. GFCI receptacles (Ground Fault Circuit Interruptors) like the ones you might find in your bathroom, and GFCI circuit breakers are designed to protect people, and trip much lower, around 5 ma.
What is neutral grounding resistor panel?
A neutral grounding resistor panel is used to resist fault current to the ground. It is used for alternator protection protection purposes. When a fault occurs in the alternator, the panel helps force the current to the ground.
Is equipment ground required in EMT conduit?
Yes it should be grounded
What all is considered to fall into the category of lighting protection equipment?
Lighting protection equipment includes; rod clamps, plates,surge suppressors, fasteners, conductors, air terminals, and ground straps.
What is meant by neutral grounding reactor?
Neutral-earthing reactors or Neutral grounding reactors are connected between the neutral of a power system and earth to limit the line-to-earth current to a desired value under system earth fault conditions.
Define earth voltage and neutral voltage?
As the neutral point of an electrical supply system is often connected to earth ground, ground and neutral are closely related. Under certain conditions, a conductor used to connect to a system neutral is also used for grounding (earthing) of equipment and structures. Current carried on a grounding conductor can result in objectionable or dangerous voltages appearing on equipment enclosures, so the installation of grounding conductors and neutral conductors is carefully defined in electrical regulations. Where a neutral conductor is used also to connect equipment enclosures to earth, care must be taken that the neutral conductor never rises to a high voltage with respect to local ground.
Is an equipment ground required in PVC conduit?
Generally, when using PVC conduit you should also run a ground wire.
May you use earth wire as neutral wire?
1. SafetyWhen there are separate wires for neutral and ground it is much less likely that a problem in electrical wiring causes a dangerous situation which will cause electrical shock or fire.If the ground and neutral were the same conductor, the cutting only the neutral wire (for example by accident) would cause the grounded metal case of the equipment to be on mains potential just because there is only live connected to equipment and that voltage can go through the equipment to the cut neutral cable and from there to equipment case.When ground and neutral are separate, then cut neutral causes only the equipment to stop working and no dangerous situation. If ground gets cut by accident, there is no danger caused before some equipment gets damaged. So when there is separate wires for neutral and ground, a singe wire fault (cut or short circuit to other wire) on any wire going to outlet does not cause immediate danger to the user of the equipment:2. Minimizing the ground potential differences between outlet groundsIn an ideal separate grounding wire system there is no current flowing in ground wire network, so there is no voltage difference between grounds on different outlets. Unfortunately in real life systems there is always some current leaking to ground, but that current is very small (only probably milli amperes) compared to the current flowing on line and neutral wires (usually amperes).If the neutral and ground were shared on same wire, the current flowing on neutral wire would easily cause a large voltage difference (up to many volts) on different outlets grounds. The ground potential on any outlet will then depend on the load current, neutral wire resistance and the mains phase it is connected to.
What happens if you splice ground wire and neutral wire in a high hat fixture?
Ground and neutral are kept separate for a reason. They are only "bonded" at the main panel. The reason is that you can create what are called ground loops where current can flow. This is because all wires have some resistance and by connecting neutral and ground you open yourself to these ground loops which can cause shocks or can adversely affect electronic equipment.
Which is not a protection against electrical accidents?
Do not attempt to climb off of the equipment, you would become the path to ground for the electricity.
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..........
Why would both ground wires and neutral wires be on same buss bar?
Both the earth wire and the neutral originate from the star point of the transformer. The neutral is used to complete the circuit with one phase, while the earth wire is used to conduct any current from the exposed metal body of the equipment to earth and to the star point of the transformer. This is done to protect people and animals in the event of accidental contact with electricity. Electricity will always follow the route of least resistance. Copper/aluminium has a much lower resistance than the human body. In the event of the live wire making contact with the earthed metal body of the equipment, the earth wire will conduct the electricity to the earth mass. Without an earth wire connected to complete the route of least resistance to earth, the human body will conduct the full load current to earth if you should touch the live metal of faulty equipment. This could result in electrocution ------------ Equipment ground-ING conductors (commonly called "ground wire" or "the ground" and is usually green or bare) and groundED conductors (commonly called the "neutral" and is usually white or gray) are required to be bonded together at the main service panel. It is common practice to put both ground and neutral conductors on the same buss bar in the main service panel which effectively bonds them together. Then, if the incoming neutral and outgoing grounding electrode conductor (that's the conductor that is connected to building ground, or ground rods, and/or water pipe ground) are connected to the same buss then everything is bonded together and grounded as required. Ground wires and neutrals should not share a buss bar and should be isolated from each other in any sub-panel.
What is the meaning of the term volts to ground in house wiring?
Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hertz supply service.Not only house wiring but in any electrical installation it is an electrical term that refers to the amount of "voltage to ground" as compared to the term of "voltage to neutral". In troubleshooting scenario's one can not always be checking voltage points back to the neutral because of physical length from the neutral point. All legal electrical equipment connections are grounded. The ground is grounded at the neutral bar in the distribution panel making it a common point. Even though you can not always access a neutral in the field there will always be a "hot" voltage to metallic grounded equipment to check for voltage at that point. This makes troubleshooting faulty equipment much easier.
