[geeks] Warning, high voltage, no GFI.

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Thu, Jan 11, 2007 at 07:25:46AM -0500, James Fogg wrote:
> I believe in his part of the country neutral isn't carried out to the outlets.
> And ground ("earth" in .eu) isn't bonded to neutral. No neutral, no North
> American style GFI. Their equipment is radically different from North American
> systems.

Now it is supposed to be exactly the same, except 230 volts. A HOT lead
at 230 volts above ground, a neutral and a safety ground wire. When this
apartment was built it was two 220 volt hot wires. 

Some of the outlets are grounded, and I have no idea where the ground
and neutral come from, what their relationship is to hot, etc. It may
vary from outlet to outlet. 

Adding to the confusion is the common practice of putting MOVs into 
equipment. There is one in our dishwasher. Without a proper ground, the
case of the dishwasher is live with 80 volts AC. It was compounded by the
plug being a German one with a flat ground connection that never connects
properly to the adapters or sockets sold here. 

The standard plug was a three pin plug similar with a rectangular ground pin 
below two rectangular pins (hot and neutral) that were at an angle (the 
opposite of the Australian ones, but look the same).

Newer outlets were modified to take two round pins for hot an neutral
in addition so that European plugs would fit unchanged, and the latest
code is three round pins, which is the E.U. standard. 

It's still a problem, because you can never be sure what's hot, what's neutral,
and if the ground is connected to anything. One person I know found out the
apartment they moved into had old wiring with grounded outlets, but no
ground connection at all, and new wiring with the grounds connected
together, but not to a ground at all.

That's why GFI's are so popular, they are now required for the whole house.
Every once in a while the electric company has a newspaper ad campaign
asking people who don't have them to install GFIs.

Geoff.  



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