If you know little about electrics and everything connected with it, then you hardly know which side of the outlet the phase is on. However, this information may come in handy sooner or later. Therefore, I advise you to clearly remember where the phase should be connected to the outlet, and where - zero.
If you make a mistake while installing the socket, it could result in a short circuit and fire.
Even a beginner can install an outlet. There are no complex manipulations in this process. Problems arise when connecting wires. When there are only 2 of them (in the case of single-phase sockets), then you can still guess. When there are 3 wires (if the outlet has a ground connection), it becomes an order of magnitude more difficult.
It is necessary to remember once and for all that grounding is a yellow-green wire. But dealing with the other two wires is not so easy. Initially, it is necessary to determine the phase in the outlet.
Currently, there are such sockets in apartments and houses:
1. Single phase, no polarity
The most unpretentious outlets. You can insert the plug of an electrical appliance into them either side, even straight, even upside down. However, such sockets are suitable only for simple appliances, but it is undesirable to include an oven or washing machine in them.
2. Single phase with polarity
In such sockets, the plug can only be stuck in one specific position. The phase and zero in this case cannot be swapped. In electrical appliances with polarity, as a rule, protective switches are installed.
The following types of single phase polarized outlets are available:
- With CEE 7/5 connector. Popular in Europe and Asia. Contacts in them are arranged in the form of a triangle.
- With BS 1363 connector. This is the English standard for sockets. In this case, the plugs have two horizontal and one vertical prongs, which are responsible for power and grounding, respectively.
- With NEMA 5-15 connector. American standard, working according to the principle described in the second paragraph.
What happens if zero and phase are confused?
Surely, you have the simplest symmetrical sockets in your apartment, into which the plug fits both straight and upside down. It turns out that any pin of the plug can fall into the phase of the outlet.
Most electrical appliances work well under these conditions. It does not matter on which pin the phase will be located, and on which one - zero.
It is worth noting that there is no clear information in the rules about where the phase wire should be in the outlet. It turns out that everything is in the hands of an electrician. How he decides - so it will be.
There is one unspoken rule that all electricians try to use. It says that the phase must be set to the right. Let me remind you that this rule is not specified in any regulations and documents, it is just accepted.
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