in the UK is the neutral mains wire connected to earth?
- Robert JLv 74 weeks ago
Yes - but only at the incoming supply side of the consumer unit (fuse board), not the house wiring side.
The "user" side keeps them totally separate and an accidental short between neutral and earth will cause an earth leakage circuit breaker to trip, as the live and neutral currents through it are unbalanced by the separate return path through the earth wire.
Neutral and earth should never be interconnected within the normal house wiring!
The typical UK connection scheme has a single-core armoured cable coming in to the house; that goes to a terminal & fuse unit called the "supply head" or "cut out", where the cable armouring connects to to both neutral and earth feeds to the distribution board.
(The earth is also electrically connected to incoming water and gas supply pipes, when they are metal.)
This is a typical UK cut-out module, which terminates the armoured cable then feeds to the electricity meter & consumer unit:
And a data sheet showing the internal construction of such a unit - the neutral and earth both come from the big brass block:
Outline connection diagram:
The UK system is called "PME" - Protective multiple earthing.
I've given a lot of info as it is a rather different system than used in some other countries and may see it as a rather strange (or even illegal) setup under different country regulations; but that is how it works here.
- PhilomelLv 74 weeks ago
Yes, It is connected to a cold water pipe or ground stake where the mains enter your home.
- Anonymous4 weeks ago
You betcha. At the generation point, along the way, and at every consumers' power box.
This makes for maximum safety should any household's neutral grounding wire be broken or disconnected, as the ground connection can be found at neighbouring premises etc.
- amania_rLv 71 month ago
The UK has a number of standard earthing configurations, but yes, it's connected to earth at either the sub-station or the consumer unit.
So depending of the currents flowing, neutral is within a few volts from earth.
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- StevenLv 71 month ago
- RobinLv 71 month ago
no the earth wire goes to earth....the yellow and green one
- 異域秦後人Lv 71 month ago
TEST IT WITH A OHM-METER TO FIND IT OUT !
- LônLv 71 month ago
Yes, it is......electricity must find it's way to earth.
The neutral wire in electronics is the wire in which electricity returns from the hot wire. It is also connected to the ground wire.
- DavidLv 71 month ago
No, and get in touch with competent electrician to do your wiring for you.
- 1 month ago
it should be otherwise the Grenfell tower would not burn for a day