Circuit Breaker on Neutral

The following pic shows a circuit breaker fitted directly to an Air Compressor " well iv pulled it out of its mounting" , its connected via the Neutrals, can anyone tell my why this is the case. The Air compressor is 2 years old but has not been tampered with.

You may also notice the Phase of the incommer is connected to a Large capacitor which then connects to the motor terminals.

Any advice appreciated

I assume there is also an on/off switch in the live lead.

A breaker in the neutral will still provide overcurrent protection for the motor, but it will leave the motor 'live ' once it has tripped, so it isn't safe to poke around inside it unless it is unplugged.

Unplugging or otherwise isolating is standard practise when working on equipment anyway, so it should present no extra danger to the user. Even with the breaker in the live connection, there would still be live parts under the cover if the breaker has popped. Those parts and the lead are also protected by the plug top fuse.

The capacitor is there, along with a second field winding, as part of the circuit to generate the second phase required by single phase motors. The live appears to continue from it's connection to the capacitor on into the motor (the red wire in your picture).

Thanks Tickly

That explains a lot