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Electrical Wiring FAQ (Part 1 of 2)
Section - "grounding" versus "grounded" versus "neutral".

( Part1 - Part2 - Single Page )
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Top Document: Electrical Wiring FAQ (Part 1 of 2)
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	According to the terminology in the CEC and NEC, the
	"grounding" conductor is for the safety ground, i.e., the green
	or bare or green with a yellow stripe wire.  The word "neutral"
	is reserved for the white when you have a circuit with more than 
	one "hot" wire.  Since the white wire is connected to neutral and
	the grounding conductor inside the panel, the proper term is
	"grounded conductor".  However, the potential confusion between
	"grounded conductor" and "grounding conductor" can lead to
	potentially lethal mistakes - you should never use the bare wire
	as a "grounded conductor" or white wire as the "grounding conductor",
	even though they are connected together in the panel.

	[But not in subpanels - subpanels are fed neutral and ground
	separately from the main panel.  Usually.]

	Note: do not tape, colour or substitute other colour wires for the
	safety grounding conductor.

	In the trade, and in common usage, the word "neutral" is used
	for "grounded conductor".  This FAQ uses "neutral" simply to
	avoid potential confusion.  We recommend that you use "neutral"
	too.  Thus the white wire is always (except in some light
	switch applications) neutral.  Not ground.

User Contributions:

1
Dev
In a fire protection circuit, circuts are shown witha no example 6,8,4etc. what it mean?these circuits are connected between smode detector,junction box etc
2
kevin
My daughter dropped a small necklace behind her dresser. The necklace crossed a plug terminal and shorted the receptacle.
I bought a new receptacle and installed the same. I still have no power I suspect there could be a bigger problem,this is aluminum wiring.
I've killed the breaker and call an electrician but am curious as to what happened.P.s. there is a dimmer switch on the same circuit.
3
dennis
Regarding new construction wiring and running 12/2 and 14/3 wire in the same box.

I have multiple switches to lights. Ran 12/2 and 14/3 into switch box and inspector wrote correction needed.

What should I have done instead?

thank you
dennis
4
Robert
Does a grounding electrode facilitate the operation of a OCPD, to clear a ground fault ?
5
@dennis
Assuming you are installing two switches in a two switch box, you probably should have used 14/2 and 14/3 instead of replacing 14/2 with 12/2. If you are only installing one switch in a one switch box, you should only have one cable in the box.
6
P k
I prefer to use nothing smaller than12 awg /the smallest sized wire on a circuit determines the allowable ampacity
Ex: 15 amp-14awg. 12awg-20amp only rule for thumb other factors such as continuous load,heating and others if you do not know the safe NEC rules then please call a qualified journeyman Electrician better be safe

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Top Document: Electrical Wiring FAQ (Part 1 of 2)
Previous Document: What is a circuit?
Next Document: What does a fuse or breaker do? What are the differences?

Part1 - Part2 - Single Page

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Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer:
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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM