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When you test the outlet you get no current between power and neutral but you get it between power and ground?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
There is an open circuit on neutral. You should have power between hot and neutral, as well as between hot and ground. Note well, however, that you should not pull any power between hot and ground, because ground is not intended to be a current carrying conductor - it is only there as a protective earth ground in the case of fault. You can not easily tell, at the outlet, if neutral and ground is reversed - you need to pull a load and then double check with a clamp on ammeter at the distribution panel.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
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How does a ground fault circuit interrupter shuts down a circuit?
A ground fault circuit breaker detects leakage current between the hot wire coming off the breaker and the neutral/ground since the neutral is bonded to the ground in the panel, if it senses a current of 6 milliamps or more it will trip. Note: no sharing of the neutral for a circuit on a ground fault breaker If a few milliamps from the hot (black) wire do not return on the neutral (white) wire, then a GFCI assumes that current it traveling harmfully elsewhere through your body. So it disconnects. A GFCI can monitor 15,000 milliamps. But if only 5 go missing, then a GFCI trips.
Will a ground fault interrupter work at any outlet with only 2 wires?
Yes. GFCI receptacles do not rely on a ground conductor to work. They sense any difference between current flowing in the hot wire and current returning in the neutral wire. Under normal circumstances, these two currents will be exactly the same. If there is a difference, then some of the current is flowing from the hot to somewhere else, possibly through a person to ground. This causes the GFCI to trip. The National Electric code even permits an old 2-wire receptacle with no ground wire to be replaced with a GFCI 3-prong receptacle. No ground wire is used, and the GFCI must be labeled "No Equipment Ground". See NEC Article 406.3(D)(3)(b) and (c). This is the only legal way to install a 3-prong receptacle in place of a 2-prong without running a new ground wire.
What is the difference between neutral and ground in a three phase system?
No matter whether we're describing a three-phase service or a a single phase service, the bare copper "earth" or "ground" wire normally carries no current. Its purpose is to provide an emergency path for current if ever there is any accidental contact between a hot wire and the external (or internal) metal parts of any electrical device which a user may be able to touch. The electrical device can be a motor, a water heater, an air conditioner unit or any other kind of appliance.By carrying away the excess current in a fault condition - which should cause the protecting fuse to blow or the circuit breaker to trip - the "ground" or "earth" wire protects the building and its occupants because the power should be cut off before anyone gets electrocuted or any overloaded circuit wiring or appliances catch on fire.The neutral is the normal "return" wire. In systems where the load is supplied from only one hot (or "live") wire, the neutral completes the circuit and carries current back from the load to the power station. In "Y-" or "star-connected" three-phase circuits the neutral doesn't normally carry any current if all three phases are properly balanced.If the three phases actually have unbalanced loads - which can easily happen if each phase is being used to provide power to different single-phase circuits, each with their different loads - then some current will flow in the neutral wire and will result in unbalanced 3-phase currents flowing back to the power station.All the neutral and ground (or "earth") wires in a building are tied or linked together at the incoming service main breaker panel. This is the only place they should ever be tied together because it is "upstream" of all the fuses and/or circuit breakers protecting the hot (or "live") wires for the various circuits installed in the building.Warning: we must never assume that a neutral is safe to touch: it has to be checked with a voltmeter or a voltage indicator to be sure it is not "live". This is because a neutral wire is designed to carry current under normal circumstances.So, if a neutral wire going back to the incoming main breaker panel has not been properly connected - or suffers a deliberate disconnection or some accidental damage which causes it to break - then it and any neutral wires connected to it further downstream will go live up to the break because of being connected to the downstream loads which still have hot feeds coming into them!That is why we should never use a neutral as a substitute for a proper, separate, ground or "earth" wire.If some external accidental damage or electrical breakdown of the wiring's insulation occurred anywhere to the house wiring, to a socket outlet or to an appliance, these things could be very dangerous if there was no such protective wire.For example, if there was no protective ground or earth wire, a fault could happen that is of a kind which did NOT draw enough extra current to blow a fuse or make the main circuit breakers on the incoming supply panel "trip" to cut the current off - but the wiring could still catch on fire and/or someone could be electrocuted!Neutral wires are the return paths to the power generation station for current it supplies to the house or building via single live or "hot" wires in the branch circuits.For more information please click on the Related Questions below.As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.Before you do any work yourself,on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOBSAFELY AND COMPETENTLYREFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Which electrical protective device is designed to detect a difference in current location in circuit wires?
A) Outlet plug B) Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) C) Electricity Read Monitor D) Current Path Detector
If you measure the current coming from a wall outlet in your house will it give the same reading the meter uses to compute your home energy use?
No. Current does not come from a wall outlet unless the wall outlet is part of a complete circuit.
What happens if you wire a ground and neutral wire together in an outlet box?
If there is a GFCI in the circuit it will stop working correctly. They compare ground current to neutral current to detect a fault. It makes ground current equal to neutral current which is a fault condition.
On a standard three prong AC outlet what should the AC voltage measure between neutral and ground?
Zero, or very close to it. If there is a large neutral current flowing, voltage drop on the neutral leg could cause a volt or so to read between the two. If you read full line voltage, the outlet is wired wrong!
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.
When wiring a range the outlet has a neutral ground and 2 hots you have three wires do you put the bare wire in the neutral or ground on the outlet?
the bare copper is always a ground
Is the neutral wire on a 220v outlet the same as the ground?
No it is not
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.
Is the inside of an outlet a conductor?
Inside an outlet there are conductors: hot, neutral, and sometimes ground. The rest of the inside of an outlet is insulator, to keep these conductors from shorting.
What is the purpose of the neutral wire in an appliance?
In order for current to flow in a circuit, it must have an "input" wire, and a "return" wire. So "what goes in, has got to come out" of a circuit. The "hot" wire in a home appliance connects to the "hot" wire in an electrical outlet (which in turn is connected to the black color coded wire supplying power to the outlet). The "neutral" wire provides the return path to the outlet (white color coded wire, and "wider" blade of the outlet) for the current. In a typical, properly wired system, both the "neutral" and "ground" wires are connected to an actual "earth" ground by means of a long (6 to 12 ft.) rod driven into the earth at the power inlet to the home . As to the "ground" wire (usually a bare wire when "unsheathed" in an outlet box), while it generally IS connected to the "neutral" wire in the distribution panel, and would carry the "return" current, it's intended only as a safety measure to: (1) provide a return current path should the "neutral" wire open or become disconnected, (2) provide a "grounded" current return path should the "hot wire in the appliance be shorted (or develop a low current path) to the frame or outer portions of the appliance.
When a GFCI senses a fault the ground-fault current can originate from what either the hot or neutral wire on the line side of the GFCI either the hot or neutral wire on the load side of the GFCI?
In a very real sense, a "ground fault" cannot come from the neutral side, since, if your wiring is performing as designed, there should be little potential between the neutral and ground. A ground fault is said to occur when the current OUT, through the "hot" side is not equal to the current BACK, through the neutral, meaning that current is leaking to somewhere else... such as through your body. Having said all that, it is certainly possible that you could cause a GFCI to trip by introducing current to the neutral from a circuit that does not go through the GFCI breaker; but that would involve non-standard wiring practices.
How do you put on a four prong outlet on a roper electric dryer?
Black & Red are hot, and White is neutral. If it has no place to connect neutral connect neutral to ground.
When should you use an ungrounded outlet?
If the wiring system into which you are installing an outlet has no ground available, use an ungrounded outlet. In an ungrounded system, an outlet with a ground contact would allow the outlet user to mistakenly, and perhaps dangerously, assume that a ground was present. A suitable ground may be available as a ground wire accompanying the hot and neutral wires in the cable, or a ground may be available via conductive conduit and a metal outlet box. In any case, use a tester to confirm the integrity of the assumed ground. A voltage test from the hot wire to the ground should show the same voltage as between hot and neutral (the black and white wires respectively). If you are replacing an ungrounded outlet, you need not assume there is no ground present. You may find, in the box, ground wires that were not connected to the outlet. You may come across grounded outlets that have no ground wire attached because they rely on grounding via the mounting screws through the outlet ears to the metal box. This is a less reliable grounding method. It is better to buy a ground-wire "pigtail," fasten the wire directly to a hole in the metal box with the supplied screw, and attach the other end of the ground wire to the outlet via the outlet's ground screw.
Why would a wall outlet give a dim indication on a tester of hot-neutral reversed when everything appears to be wired correctly in the outlets?
A -dim- "hot/neutral reversed" indication means that there is -some- voltage, but less than 120V, on the neutral line, referenced to the safety ground. Ideally, the ground and neutral should be at the -same- potential, but a loose neutral connection "upstream" of this outlet will cause measurable voltage between ground and neutral. No need to swap any wires; just tighten neutral connections at all points (including outlets AND breaker panel) on the same circuit as this outlet. My guess is that whoever pulled the wire swapped the white/black wires from the point prior. Trace back the wire to the previous outlet and check the hook up. Try to swap your white/black line on the outlet and retest. If it checks ok, then the wire have been swapped from the previous point.
