Notice that the subpanel is fed by two large hot wires and a neutral wire running through a small angled conduit.
32.
Without that, the live and neutral wires would both alternate positive and negative, so they would both be " live ".
33.
_The previous homeowner's electrical wiring will not be found faulty until you cut into what you assume is a dead neutral wire.
34.
Where there is a requirement for switching off the neutral wire, two-pole breakers ( or four-pole for 3-phase ) must be used.
35.
Separate earth and neutral wires are only maintained inside the residence . talk ) 00 : 02, 3 February 2009 ( UTC)
36.
The neutral wire should be connected to the silver terminal ( this is not a concern if the plug is not polarized ).
37.
If the loads are evenly distributed on all three phases, the sum of the returning currents in the neutral wire is approximately zero.
38.
Various earthing systems are used to ensure that the ground and neutral wires have the correct voltages, to prevent shocks when touching grounded objects.
39.
The ground wire gives electricity a safe path into the ground if the loop formed by the hot wire and neutral wire is interrupted.
40.
Generally, each hot or neutral wire counts as one, the device, switch or receptacle counts as two, and all ground wires count as one.
