Live/Neutrals reversed
- Thread starter Doug99
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Yes!
If your incommer is reversed polarity, then none of your fuses, or the suppliers fuse will operate on a live to earth fault. This would instead heat your wiring to the melting point of copper, and likely start a fire.
Also everything in your house is live all the time even when switched off.
Get the suppliers out NOW
They will not charge you for this repair.
If your incommer is reversed polarity, then none of your fuses, or the suppliers fuse will operate on a live to earth fault. This would instead heat your wiring to the melting point of copper, and likely start a fire.
Also everything in your house is live all the time even when switched off.
Get the suppliers out NOW
They will not charge you for this repair.
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As you may realise where line and neutral are swapped does make a big difference in Europe they use non polarity plugs and sockets banned in the UK and since most stuff has to work either in Europe or UK swapping the lives so line and neutral is reversed will not cause a failure.
However our earthing arrangements are not the same as rest of Europe so really to ensure safe operations line and neutral do need to be correct.
Please note neutral is a live wire we call the phase wire in a single phase supply 'line'.
However our earthing arrangements are not the same as rest of Europe so really to ensure safe operations line and neutral do need to be correct.
Please note neutral is a live wire we call the phase wire in a single phase supply 'line'.
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Where did he test from?
Which company was it?
Did he raise any paperwork?
Did he call the DNO?
As phatboy pointed out at the start, it's not clear whether it is the DNO supply that has L/N reversed (in which case they obviously must be informed) or merely the supply to the boiler (or maybe the OP's entire installation, post meter).
Kind Regards, John
He certainly needs an electrician, to ascertain what (if anything) is wrong, and to get it remedied if necessary. However, I'm not quite sure how an 'earthing issue' could mainfest itself as an apparent L/N reversal.
Kind Regards, John
It is seen more on TT supplies where there is no effective RCD protection, a L-E fault makes E at the same potential as L and shows up as L-N reversal.
A disconnected E and downstream L-E fault will show the same too.
Needless to say, either case needs remedied quickly.
A disconnected E and downstream L-E fault will show the same too.
Needless to say, either case needs remedied quickly.
Ah, yes - I was thinking only of a single problem/fault/'issue'. If there is an L-E fault and the absence of an adequate earth/protective device combination, then, yes, I can see how it could appear as an L-N reversal. I was trying to think (without success) or how an 'earthing issue', alone, could manifest itself as a L-N reversal.
If I were a betting man, I think my money would probably be on the boiler man having looked only at what was coming out of an FCU and that mis-wiring of that (rather than of the whole installation, or the supply) is what he identified as a L-N reversal. I would certainly think theatthe first step should be to get an electrician to find out what's going on, rather than (as some have suggested) immediately 'troubling the DNO'.
Kind Regards, John
Before anyone goes panicking to the DNO, surely the use of a £3.50 plug-in socket tester (NOT a neon screwdriver!!!) will give an better indication of whether the fault is simply a mis-wired FCU or something more serious! If three lights DON'T come on, there IS (potentially) a problem!
As I've just written, I agree that they should try to suss out what's going on before anyone contacts the DNO (who might well not be the ones who can sort it out, anyway. However, if they invested in a socket tester and got 'three greens' when plugged into sockets in the house, there would probably still be a need to get an electrician in to work out what the boiler man was worried about, so, IMO, they might as well get an electrician in to start with. ... and, of course, if the tester showed an apparent L-N reversal which was due to the sort of 'double issues' that Spark123 mentioned (or, indeed, due to the whole installation being 'reversed' at the CU), the DNO would not be the people who could sort it out, anyway - so another reason for getting an electrician first.
Kind Regards, John
Didn't we have one on here a while ago where the fault was on one of the strappers of a two way lighting circuit and it took a while before someone worked out why the polarity appeared to be changing itself at will
When my mum had her cutout changed the first thing they did was check the polarity before even touching the cut out and one of the guys said they went to one house to change a cut out and the polarity test was wrong so they left the house disconnected and told them to find someone to chase down the problem before they'd reconnect them
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