New answers tagged neutral
1
At the main service the grounding(bare wire) and grounded conductor (white wire/neutral) are together. ANY panel (aka sub panel) after the main panel is a sub panel and the grounded conductor (white wire/aka neutral) are not bonded and should be separated. Period!
You have a floating ground condition and someone could get hurt and also the GFCI may never ...
1
First problem is that you have multiple grounds, because your main panel is grounded and now you've bonded grounds in your subpanel. This is illegal and not safe. As for your GFI's as long as your box the device is in has continuity to ground, which is done through the bonding screw in the subpanel you should be fine. Someone mentioned grounding the panel ...
1
Since it's all conduit, you should be able to stuff a ground wire down it, by hook or by crook
Since we're feeding a 100A panel via conduit, getting a ground in there isn't as hard as it sounds. You only need about 75-80' of 8AWG bare stranded copper for this, and should be able to pull it through by turning off the feeder in the main panel, unhooking it ...
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Panel issues
First, manasshkatz correctly spotted the alien breaker second from bottom on the right side. The lower left breaker is a Siemens QP. Those alien breakers have gotta go. You need "Westinghouse" (read: Cutler Hammer/Eaton) BR/C family, commonly known as BR.
The 30A Siemens is a mystery. There's almost no legitimate use for a 30A 1-pole breaker....
answered Jan 13 at 4:08
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8
A GFCI breaker does not know or care what happens upstream (elsewhere in the subpanel or back at the main panel. All that matters is that neutral and hot are connected to it properly so that it can detect the difference between them. If there is a ground wire going to the protected device then that ground must be separate from neutral until sometime past the ...
answered Jan 13 at 2:12
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0
The big danger of borrowed neutrals comes when someone tries to do work on the system. They turn off the circuits they are working on and go through "safe isolation" procedures and confirm that it is dead.
Then they start to disconnect stuff and suddenly get an electric shock! The neutral wire had no significant voltage on it during testing, but once ...
2
That's indeed completely illegal, but is a common sight where people put smart switches on 3-ways. They get to a "remote" 3-way that's on a spur, and the only available wires are always-hot, traveler 1 and traveler 2, and they go "oh hey, I see a neutral over there on the other side of that divider!" (because it would be conceptually better if there were ...
answered Jan 10 at 2:01
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1
It's a routine and appropriate thing to find conductors from multiple circuits cohabitating in a junction box. As the linked questions make clear, it's important that a hot conductor and its corresponding neutral belong together in cables, raceways, and junction boxes.
In years past it was routine (and allowed under code) to make a switch loop for a light ...
4
This is a wiring hack job. Someone had a problem with the proper neutral wire, but they were aware that the safety grounding system has an equipotential bond with the neutral in the panel, so they are returning current on that instead. Very dangerous; any problem in the grounding electrode system could result in all the safety grounds in your house being ...
answered Jan 7 at 21:26
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2
I gather you're a stone cold novice at electrical, and your only interest in it is DIY hooking up these smart switches.
The typical confusion we get with neutral wires is people seeing them connected together and thinking "they must be spares", and they think they're meant to pull out one of the neutral wires and use it for their smart device.
Not at ...
answered Jan 7 at 19:32
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Bundled together sounds like the USA so you can run a neutral from each switch and connect them to the existing four neutrals with a red wire nut,if it's 14 AWG. A better way would be to install a neutral, white, wire from the first switch to the second switch and then from the second switch to the bundle of neutrals since you have an in and out for neutrals ...
0
Someone used the wrong color wire , I think your standard is blue brown and green with a yellow stripe. This was the standard for the equipment my last company built for the U.K.
if memory serves your standard color codes have changed over the years but for more than 50 years green has been exclusive to grounding not grounded or neutral.
1
Table saws, can remove a lot of material very quickly. This makes them very effective but it also makes them very dangerous. That is the whole reason your manufacturer used a special switch in the first place.
A double pole switch considerably reduces the chance of the motor turning on unexpectedly due to a fault in either the switch or the wiring.
This ...
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I think an inspector could call out NEC 200.2(B) Continuity. The continuity of a grounded circuit conductor shall not depend on a connection to a metal enclosure, raceway, or cable armor.
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It's not a good idea to run the neutrals to the enclosure attached ground bars for reasons other have mentioned. Although it's OK to run the grounds to the neutral buss bar, I prefer to keep them separated.
Also, note that on a SUB-panel, it's imperative the neutrals and grounds are separated and the neutral is NOT bonded to the enclosure. Instead, you ...
2
Does the cord have a grounded plug (3 prong?) or 2 prong? If 2 prong is it polarized (one prong slightly wider than the other, which is the neutral prong). If the saw is old enough not to be grounded, nor have a polarized plug, it's really important to have a double disconnect if the saw in plugged in backwards, very easy and "normal" to do if not ...
1
You're absolutely right that a best practice is to separate neutrals and grounds. There are a bunch of reasons, but I'll give you one: you can replace your neutral-ground bonding screw with a bonding wire, and then stick a clamp ammeter around it. Voilà, ground faults are revealed!
However, this best-practice is not a Code requirement and you can't be ...
2
It may sound funny but it is ok and even required in a way your neutral and ground being on the same bar is fine but look closer and you will see a jumper to ground (the panel is required to be grounded, your grounded and grounding conductors are tied together and then to the case so it is functionally the same on separate bars that are bonded and connected ...
2
My understanding is that should a short happen down stream of the motor on either side, the safety switch cuts both sides because you are dealing with 110v AC here.
If there was a short to ground anywhere, the motor could still spin (at half speed) due the fact that AC alternates directions with every cycle.
Breaking both poles at the same time means that ...
0
There are only a few ways this can go
There are only four ways switches ever get wired:
Power-to-the-switch, where always-hot and neutral are brought to the switch location, the switch breaks the hot, then switched-hot and neutral are brought from the switch location to the outlet location
An "old-style" switch loop, where always-hot and neutral are ...
23
The technique is called double-switching. According to this article, on AC equipment the technique is used to avoid dangerous conditions when hot and neutral are reversed, as often happens with outlets that have been improperly wired. It is permitted by this exception in NEC 404.2(B):
404.2(B) Grounded Conductors. Switches or circuit breakers
shall not ...
2
I don't think anyone can answer why that it a double pole switch or how the saw was originally wired.
You can remove the neutral wires from the switch and connect them together. Make sure you carry the neutral integrity to the power source so you don't end up switching hot. Also, did you determine why you had sparks flying when you tried turning it on ...
4
They also make timers that don't use neutral wires. Same company, same shelf.
They wire up exactly like your old switch, and are guaranteed to work anywhere a plain switch works.
These have a dial you twist and set to the exact time you want, and a spring and clockwork mechanism makes them unwind. They come in any range from 5 minutes to 12 hours, with ...
answered Dec 30 '19 at 19:12
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14
Probable reason: they made ONE saw assembly and used a motor that could be configured as 110 or 220. For 220 you would break both lines, for 110 you don't need to, but there is nothing saying you can't (so long as your switch breaks both lines together), so it's just easier to have everything the same.
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I believe that up until the NEC 2017 version, neutral conductors were not required in a box with switches in it. So the only reason there would be a neutral present would be if the circuit fed through the box. From what we can see of the box, it appears that the lighting circuits are fed to the light fixture first and the a line leg is sent down to the box ...
4
Yes, #1 is your group of neutrals and you would need to pigtail into that connector with a piece #14. Naturally, you want to shut off the breaker before doing any work. You're going to have to be careful arranging the existing wires so you can get the new timer switch into the box, and even then, you might need to add a box extender.
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Check if a blue wire (CENELEC) or white wire (NEC). Be carefull to identify "switch loops" those may have a neutral-colored wire actually used for live.
A simple contact test-light will tell you if a wire is live or not, switched loops go from 0 to live potential after switch is operated, so testlight is off if switch is off and on if switch is on.
You can ...
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