----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Alcorn - Avion Sydney" <sdalcorn@AVION.COM.AU>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: [PIC]: Newbie Q. re: electrical outlet and SSR


> on 7/2/02 7:32 AM, David VanHorn at dvanhorn@CEDAR.NET wrote:
>
> Hey Dave,
>
> > Black is the "hot" lead, and is the one that you should interrupt.
> > In a series circuit, from an academic point of view, it does not matter,
> > but from a safety point of view, I should never be able to touch a white
> > wire that is hot. (loads of things violate this, but that's how it
should be)
>
> As an Australian and too young to remember anything OTHER than a 3-wire
MEN
> system, I am curious about the US 3-wire system. Is the White leg
> (equivalent to what we term a neutral, I assume) connected to Earth at
some
> point in the building's electrical system or is it floating?
>
> ie; in a new building with 3-wire outlets throughout, is the white neutral
> leg tied to earth back at the distribution board?

Where I live in Quebec there are three wires coming off the transformer on
the utility pole. The earth wire is connected at the utility box with a fat
bare copper multistranded cable to the earth via the house plumbing or a
copper rod driven into the ground. I assume the white wire is grounded at
the pole, but it may just be the neutral side of a three-phase
transformer...dunno.

>
> Also is the colour coding still Black, White and Green? The Green/Yellow
> combination is not used?

I have never seen green/yellow except inside appliances like electric
lawn-mowers.

>
> I lived in Taiwan for about 8 years, and they STILL use what I assume to
be
> a copy of the OLD 2-wire US System - One white and one black. I can tell
you
> I never trusted either of those suckers and made sure there was a dual
pole
> isolation switch between me and the nearest power station at all times -
> then checked with a meter just to be sure! :-)

In my current apartment most of the wiring is cloth-covered and looks brown
but when it was installed about 50 years ago it may have been colour-coded.
I have seen in the basements of other peoples' houses the remains of the
original electrical system: two cloth-covered wires about a foot apart
running on ceramic insulators. No earth ground...

/\/\/\/*=Martin

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