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First off, this is for a single phase 120/240V system only. The ground and neutral can be bonded at the receptacle but not instead of bonding them at the panel.You should always have them bonded together at the panel in a single phase 120/240V system. Otherwise you risk having a floating neutral in your system.

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15y ago
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13y ago
Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hertz supply service.The ground wire is not bonded to the neutral wire in a sub panel because the sub panel is considered to be a branch circuit from the main panel. Only the main panel is grounded at the neutral. Any faults at the sub panel would return direct to the main panel through the ground wire in the cable feeding the sub panel. If the sub panel was located in another building separate from the building where the main panel is located then a bond to the neutral would be made and also to the ground rod that would be needed for this installation.

Another consideration is that the grounding system is designed to carry zero current in normal operation. If the neutral and ground wire were bonded at a sub panel, return current from the sub panel to the main panel would be split between the neutral and ground, even if there are no faults. Separating the neutral and ground ensures that there is no path for return current to flow in the protective ground.

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Q: Why can't the ground wire be connected to neutral at the receptacle instead of in the main panel?
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Can you change outlet to fit old 3 prong outlet?

An old 2 hole receptacle can be changed to a 3 hole receptacle that will accept a 3 prong plug, provided a ground wire is available at the box and connected to the ground (green) lug on the new receptacle. A 2 hole receptacle has a hot and neutral wire, while a 3 hole receptacle will require a ground wire connection -- in addition to the hot and neutral wires.


How are the live neutral and ground wires connected to a duplex grounding type receptacle?

The black "hot" conductor goes to the brass coloured screw. The white coloured conductor goes to the silver coloured screw. The bare ground conductor goes to the ground green coloured screw


Is a grounding 120 volt receptacle larger than an ordinary receptacle?

No, it just has an additional conductor to separate the neutral from the ground, and has a third prong in the receptacle to receive the appliance grounding conductor through the cordset.


What is a silver screw in a new wall receptacle for?

The screw is actually only silver in color and it is where the neutral wire(s) get connected to, (white wire). the gold colored screw gets connected to the positive(black or red) wire(s). Green screw is for ground wire.


What are the common wiring in a receptacle?

Black wire is HOT, white wire is NEUTRAL and bare or green wire is GROUND. The black wire goes to brass colored screw, the white wire goes to silver colored screw and the bare wire goes to green screw that is connected to the metal "frame" of the receptacle.

Related questions

Can you change outlet to fit old 3 prong outlet?

An old 2 hole receptacle can be changed to a 3 hole receptacle that will accept a 3 prong plug, provided a ground wire is available at the box and connected to the ground (green) lug on the new receptacle. A 2 hole receptacle has a hot and neutral wire, while a 3 hole receptacle will require a ground wire connection -- in addition to the hot and neutral wires.


How are the live neutral and ground wires connected to a duplex grounding type receptacle?

The black "hot" conductor goes to the brass coloured screw. The white coloured conductor goes to the silver coloured screw. The bare ground conductor goes to the ground green coloured screw


Is a grounding 120 volt receptacle larger than an ordinary receptacle?

No, it just has an additional conductor to separate the neutral from the ground, and has a third prong in the receptacle to receive the appliance grounding conductor through the cordset.


What is a silver screw in a new wall receptacle for?

The screw is actually only silver in color and it is where the neutral wire(s) get connected to, (white wire). the gold colored screw gets connected to the positive(black or red) wire(s). Green screw is for ground wire.


What are the common wiring in a receptacle?

Black wire is HOT, white wire is NEUTRAL and bare or green wire is GROUND. The black wire goes to brass colored screw, the white wire goes to silver colored screw and the bare wire goes to green screw that is connected to the metal "frame" of the receptacle.


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.


Which prong of an outlet is live?

Looking at a duplex receptacle the right smaller slot is hot, the left larger slot is neutral and the u ground is ground.


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.


How do you know what wire is ground on 200 amp service?

On a 200 amp or any size service the ground wire is easily identified. Look in the distribution panel for the neutral bus bar. This is where the service neutral (white wire) is connected to the distribution panel. There you will see a bare copper wire connected to the same neutral bar. This is the ground wire that is connected to the ground rods out side of the house.


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.


How can you tell if the ground wire is approriately bonded to the neutral and the cabinet at the service box?

Ground wire can be appropriately bonded to the neutral and cabinet at the service box by connecting the neutral and ground wires from the feeder wires to the neutral bus bar and the ground terminal located on the same cabinet at the service box. White wire (neutral) must be connected to bus bar and bare wire must be connected to ground terminal in the same cabinet.


Why are you reading 230v between neutral and hot on a dryer receptacle?

it is a miss-wire, check what voltage you get between ground and the other hot!