An electrical tip that may save ur sensitive equipment

  • Thread starter hiboy
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hiboy

hiboy

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Thought i would share this, its an important rule in the electrical field and simple to remember and follow.
If you ever work on your lines hot, i always suggest turning off power but if that isnt possible, think of your 120v neutral as the captain of the boat.
He goes on first, and comes off last
meaning
always connect it first,
then hook up your hot last to install
And your hot comes off first
and your neutral last to uninstall
Reason being that many appliances and equipment will fry if you drop your neutral. Learned this the hard way back in the day.
Now go play with some power and lite it up
h
 
Old Fart

Old Fart

15
3
You are absolutely right. The hot (black in the USA) is the one with the power, 120 Volts RMS (169.7 V Peak to Peak). Since the neutral (white) is connected to ground in your panel and at the power plant it is effectively Ground. Your appliances have no problem being connected to ground, in fact the off switch only cuts the power side (black) leaving the neutral connected always. Almost all homes have 240Volt (RMS) and this is supplied with two black wires (Hot) and one white wire (Neutral). When one hot wire is used with the neutral it is 120V. When both hot wires are used it is 240V. If your house drops the neutral somehow, the way it is wired in the panel means that some of your 120V appliances could see 240V, and that is bad.
 
TrichromeFan

TrichromeFan

1,850
83
Nice one hiboy,
Good practice to follow. I like wiring hot. Males me feel alive!

-TF
 
W

Winchester

26
3
if you are not an electrician flip the breaker off. always works for me
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

6,892
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hiboy said:
Shit ur right why didnt i think of that...........
thats what those black switches are for..
hb
Click to expand...

So you may have already answered this in the other thread, but I am facing the prospect of replacing an old 100amp breaker. Ordinarily, I'd just open the breaker at the meter and work with a cold panel- but in this case, the breaker I need to replace IS the breaker at the meter. How do I do it? Or, do I just call the utility? I'm asking about this in two threads at once for a reason; so more people see what to do without without frying themselves... so answer once and copy n paste? :D
 
hiboy

hiboy

2,347
113
ttystikk said:
So you may have already answered this in the other thread, but I am facing the prospect of replacing an old 100amp breaker. Ordinarily, I'd just open the breaker at the meter and work with a cold panel- but in this case, the breaker I need to replace IS the breaker at the meter. How do I do it? Or, do I just call the utility? I'm asking about this in two threads at once for a reason; so more people see what to do without without frying themselves... so answer once and copy n paste? :D
Click to expand...
Yes i saw it in the other thread, put up some info for you
good luck
hb
 
GanjaAL

GanjaAL

865
63
Bestest yet... as a new plumbers apprentice back in the day.... never plug a 120v threading maching into 220v...LOL. Learned that one the hard way myself. Boy did that bad boy hummm along till the switch burnt up. Needless to say I was on dig a ditch detail for awhile to think about it. But in my defense... the plug fit so I thought it was ok.... glad only the switch burnt and not the motor. Sorry hiboy... had to share.
 
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