vvillyd

8 ms·

1.
by vvillyd 7y ago
After researching the UK electrical system, I realize I was mistaken on one regard. I thought they used 2-ungrounded conductors, but I was mistaken. The red wire is the only ungrounded. This would be the same as the black wire in a US house
2.
by vvillyd 7y ago
Absolutely! Yes! First, NEVER work anything hot. There is no such thing as a safe voltage to work energized. Even a simple home receptacle circuit can easily kill you (and it happens with alarming regularity). That said, ALWAYS work somethi
3.
by vvillyd 7y ago
The three wires in any typical household circuit are your Ungrounded Conductor (hot wire), Grounded Conductor (neutral wire), and Equipment Grounding Conductor (EGC/Ground Wire). The hot and neutral are what actually makes the circuit
4.
by vvillyd 7y ago
So I think you should define what you mean by "green wire". The NEC allows EGCs, GECs, MBJs, and SBJs to all use green wire. They all serve different purposes, and only the GEC is connected to the Earth. Whether or not the GEC is
5.
by vvillyd 7y ago
I'm not trying to be argumentative but you are misinformed. "Floating" means that the system is not connected to ground. That is, there is no system/main bonding jumper. There is no connection to a grounding electrode co
6.
by vvillyd 7y ago
I'm from the US, so I'll add the caveat that this is answer is based on my foreign understanding and a British electrician may be better suited to answer this. Your green wire would be what the US calls a ground wire, and what is
7.
by vvillyd 7y ago
Yeah, this is 100% based on the US electrical system. I am not familiar enough with how other countries do it to speak intelligently on their systems.
8.
by vvillyd 7y ago
That's exactly correct. You would get shocked if you touched the fan.
9.
by vvillyd 7y ago
If you do not properly bond the ceiling fan (that is, connect the "ground" wire) then the circuit breaker will not trip if there is a fault to ground on the fan. That is, if the hot wire touches a metal part of the fan which is no
10.
by vvillyd 7y ago
Well, electrical potential is only defined as a relation between two points. So the neutral point on a transformer, for example, doesn't have any electrical potential in and of itself. It has electrical potential with relation to, say,
11.
by vvillyd 7y ago
Thanks! In my 11 year experience in the electrical industry I have come to realize that there is a LOT of misinformation about how electrical systems work, and even the most experienced veterans in the field often don't really understa
12.
by vvillyd 7y ago
Yeah, that was a typo on my part. I didn't notice it at first, and it's now been so long since I posted it that I would feel disingenuous editing it. I think someone pointed out the typo in the comments.
13.
by vvillyd 7y ago
I'm actually the person who wrote this Reddit post. I'd never heard of Hacker News before, but someone messaged me on Reddit telling me this 4 year old post just surfaced over here. Let me know if you have any questions about elec