Electrical is a complicated thing, not everyone can master it. Even some elementary things for a common man in the street seem to be the greatest science. For example, do you know which side of the outlet the phase should be on?
If you know, then I take off my hat to you. And if not, then today's article will be very useful. This knowledge can be useful, and therefore it is better to assimilate and fix it. Otherwise, if you ever confuse the phase and zero, you can provoke a short circuit and even a fire.
If you figure it out, installing an outlet is absolutely simple. Insert it into the box and tighten a couple of screws. "What's the problem then?" - you ask. The whole difficulty lies in connecting the wires. If the socket is single-phase, then there are only two wires, and if it is also with grounding, then as many as three, and this is even more difficult.
Remember once and for all, grounding in sockets is always done with a yellow-green wire.
With this sorted out. But how to understand which of the wires is zero and which is the phase? Let's try to figure out where the phase should be. Most often, the following socket options are found in residential premises:
1. Single phase and no polarity
The absence of polarity indicates that the plug can be inserted either way. No matter how you turn it, the device will work fine.
2. Single phase and polarity
The situation here is more complicated. In such outlets, the plugs can be inserted in a certain position, otherwise the zero with the phase will be out of place. Electrical appliances with polarity usually have protection that is triggered if they are incorrectly connected.
These outlets also have a division into types:
- CEE 7/5 connectors. They can be found in Europe and Asia. If you visually connect the contacts in this outlet, you get a triangle.
- BS 1363 connectors are popular in England. The holes for the pins of the plug in them are not round, as we are used to, but horizontal and one vertical. The first power the devices, and the second is the ground.
- NEMA 5-15 connectors are American standard, which is very similar to English, as the holes in the socket are the same.
What happens if you change the phase and zero in places?
I will assume that in many apartments the simplest sockets with one phase and no polarity are installed. In this case, any pin of the electrical appliance plug may be in phase, and this will not affect anything.
A large number of devices are picky and work calmly in such conditions. It doesn't matter how you turn the fork: straight or upside down.
If you decide to read the rules, you will not see information in them on the correct location of the phase in the sockets. It turns out that the choice is made by the electrician.
There is an unspoken rule according to which, the phase must always be on the right. I will note that this is not some kind of common truth. It's just that the electricians once agreed that they would set the phase to the right, so as not to get confused in the future.
I asked several experienced electricians if this was the case, and they confirmed that the phase is always connected to the right terminal. But it is better to check this moment when installing the outlet, since there are craftsmen who output the phase to the left!
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