"Nick Bourne" <"nabourne at tpg.com.au"> wrote in message
news:468251e1@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
>
> Sorry I come from the criminal colonies were the British taught us to
> speak. I think it comes from the original DC power grid where you got one
> wire in and 6 foot steel rod driven into the earth out the back. I can't
> get my head around the whole AC wiring thing of active and neutral. If you
> touch either it give you a shock, can't see what's so neutral about it.
>
I'm not sure how wiring standards are there, but here in Yank-land the
modern standard uses three wires for single phase (120 volt) wiring. Only
one, the "hot" lead (I think there's a formal name for it but it isn't
coming to mind), will produce a shock under normal conditions. The other
two, neutral and ground (safety ground), are connected together at the power
distribution point - in homes and similar, that's the circuit breaker panel.
The current in the hot and neutral wires must balance; ground current
indicates a fault.

It is never wise to bet one's life on it, though. At work we recently began
auditing the low voltage wiring in our substations (I work for an electric
utility) and found some amazing sorts of miswiring. And recently my wife and
I stayed in a hotel room (a mid-scale chain hotel) where turning on the hall
light tripped the GFI breaker in the bathroom. Hmm....

Mike