Line And Neutral Wires

Distinguishing between line and load isn t always necessary.

Line and neutral wires. Any other colors expected the above mentioned can be used for live line or hot wires. Identifying electrical wiring properly is an important step when replacing a light fixture installing an outlet or handling other electrical work. And these terms are relative to the location of the device in the circuit since the load wire. The hot and neutral lines should be two distinct colors but the colors can vary for the different wires.

In north america hot and neutral are the two wires suppying a 120v circuit. The neutral wire is joined in conjunction with the live wire to balance the potential difference. Ground neutral and hot wires explained. In contrast the ground wire is connected to any metal parts in an appliance such as a microwave oven or coffee pot.

The terms are used in the context of a single device and electrical box so that the wires that deliver power into the box are described as the line wires the upstream wires or the incoming wires while the wires passing onward to other devices are described as load downstream or outgoing wires. The neutral wire forms a part of the live circuit along with the hot wire. In this video we look at the difference and purpose of the ground wire the hot wire and the neutral wire in a north. Live wire is the cord through which the main heavy current flows at 220 volt.

The mandatory colors for power wiring in national electric codes nec are green bare or green yellow yellow strip or band on green for protective ground pg and white alternatively grey for neutral wire. All neutral wires of the same earthed grounded electrical system should have the same electrical potential because they are all connected through the system ground. Line is probably synonymous with hot but it often refers to the wire that comes from the service to the box you re working on. Like the neutral wire the ground wire is also connected to an earth ground.

The neutral wire is at potential of zero volt. Neutral conductors are usually insulated for the same voltage as the line conductors with interesting exceptions. As opposed to load which is away. Learn how to identify wires for your safety.