wiring of plug

[pezricoperez]

please could you tell me, what would happen if a standard 13amp plug was wrongly wired,ie, if live and neutral was in the wrong terminals?
would the item connected to the plug still work,thanks

 

[Jaymack]

Will still work, that's a problem. It's dangerous. It requires to be corrected.

Jaymack

 

[dannyboi2003]

Why are you asking this?

 

[plugwash]

there are three potential safety issues.

1: the appliance may contain a switch that only isolates the live, if live and neutral are swapped this means that the appliance will remain live even when switched off, this is not immediately dangerous but may increase the risk if there is another fault or if some idiot tries to work on the appliance without unplugging it.

2: if ES bulbs are in use with traditional metal threaded holders then the ring will be live increasing the risk of shock when putting the bulb in (though again only an idiot would be likely to touch the cap of an ES bulb while inserting it.

3: internal fuses in the appliance won't protect against faults to earth, If there is no RCD on the circuit then in some cases this could be a fire risk depending on how the appliance is designed.

having said all that most appliances are designed to be used with live and neutral swapped as unpolarised plugs are very common in the 230V world.

 

[pezricoperez]

thankyou plugwash,your reply was very helpful,i will ask for you again if i have any more questions,pezricoperez.

 

[Steve]

 

[securespark]

Stop ****ing about, and wire the plugs correctly!