Wiring Fault

[bernard]

Hi all

I was looking at a newly installed island of freezers today and noticed one case with the Live and Neutral reversed.I rectifed this fault straight away however what long term effect would this have if left faulty.

Kind Regards

Bernard

[Electrocoolman]

Bernard,
As you discovered, in normal operation it would still run, however in a fault condition it could have caused a fire, depending upon the type of protection on the supply circuit.
If it was only Single pole switching on the unit, the unit would still have a live supply to it when switched off.
Fuse protection is again wired in the supply live, so under a fault condition to earth the unit would have no protection...
....and what about the unsuspecting service tech who doesnt bother to check before diving in?

[monkey spanners]

Once fitted a dairy deck and AC in a corner shop and found on commissioning that the live and neutral into the mains board where reversed Shop owner didn't seem too bothered, he'd had a mate do the electrics cheep

Cheers Jon

[LRAC]

Bernard,
As you discovered, in normal operation it would still run, however in a fault condition it could have caused a fire, depending upon the type of protection on the supply circuit.
If it was only Single pole switching on the unit, the unit would still have a live supply to it when switched off.
Fuse protection is again wired in the supply live, so under a fault condition to earth the unit would have no protection...
....and what about the unsuspecting service tech who doesnt bother to check before diving in?

This may be the case but what about all of this italian kit coming into the country that neutral switches on all of the controls.

Regards
Lrac

[Electrocoolman]

Hi Lrac,
The 'fuse' protection would still be in the live supply feed despite controls switching the neutral.

The other scenario I have come across is equipment wired to USA standards but misconnected in UK. USA colour codes is 'Black = Phase' 'White = Neutral'
Black sometimes ends up being wired to Neutral.
Just remember Black Death!

[NH3LVR]

Trust me, we get confused when we have your equipment over here. I had to convert a very complicated machine (not refrigeration) from your standards to ours, in order to satisfy our local inspectors. Some inspectors will let us placard the machines, others will demand new color IDs on the ends. Some will want rewiring.
One customer imported a dehumidifier from Japan. He was forced to replace all the components in the electrical panel.

[Electrocoolman]

Hi NH3LVR,
On your two pin mains plugs is it the WIDE prong that is the phase?

[NH3LVR]

Hi NH3LVR,
On your two pin mains plugs is it the WIDE prong that is the phase?

If memory serves the narrow one is the hot (to ground, or earth) one.
Let me check.
If the hotel is wired correctly, that is the way it is.
If it is not wired correctly I may not survive my shower and it has been nice knowing you all.

[US Iceman]

If it is not wired correctly I may not survive my shower and it has been nice knowing you all.

Now you be careful with this. It would be shame to loose a good tech because of this.

[NH3LVR]

Now you be careful with this. It would be shame to loose a good tech because of this.

Well I survived and will continue to spread my sense of humor and good cheer.
Now if I can ever finish this decommisioning, I can go home and work on the job 15 minutes from the shop!