If I touch the neutral wire, will I get a shock?

[cairns]

Just wondering if I would get a shock if I touch the neutral at a switch point, if the live isn't connected to the neutral?

Thanks

 

[acat]

If you are talking about the switch as in a lightswitch you dont have a neutral as such your neutral should have brown sleeving on it to show it is part of the live side of the circuit.

With the switch off you will not get a shock but trying is not recommended incase it is wired wrong or the switch is broken.

Hope that helps


Chris

 

[Sintra]

Under normal circumstances you would not get a shock from a neutral conductor.

But if the neutral was broken at some point then you would get a shock.

A neutral should be treated as a live conductor and properly isolated before touching.

 

[eskimo39]

You may have a neutral if not using the loop in method. Sometimes you find the Neutral of the incomming feed in the back of a light switch with the Neutral of the switch live in a connector block.

 

[Des 56]

One of the poorest forms of test instrument is the human test finger
It doesn't trip or blow a fuse when it needs to

Voltage testers which are about £20 do the job much better,they make a noise and light the lights rather than the excrutiating pain that the finger tester uses


Why do you think the live would be connected to the neutral,if it was it would more likely blow a fuse or trip an mcb
Do you mean the switched live or the open neutral when a circuit is switched and loaded ?

 

[baldsparkies]

Treat the lives and neutrals with the same respect. Its as easy to get a belt from the neutral as it is from the live. If you dont respect it. It will get you someday. As others have said live test before touching any circuit conductor. But as a competant sparks, if someone asks you if you have isolated a circuit and you say yes. You should be confident enough to touch that circuit, if not, then you haven't done your job properly.

 

[bugsy]

Dumbstruck!!

 

[Phil]

used to get my butties from a sandwich shop when I first started at college. guy asked me what i was doing at college when i told him i was on a sparkies course he said his son was a qualified electrician and asked me if i knew what the difference was between him and me?? qual`s i said." NO my son is smart and qualified now and he has learnt to test the curcuit by licking his finger and touching it i bet
you still use one of those testers dont you?"

too right i do and now i am qualified i still do`nt lick my finger?? priceless. may see him smoking on you tube one day.

 

[WayneL]

Dumbstruck!!

Why? I think this is a fair question, although badly put.

The answer depends on the circumstances surrounding the circuit and the neutral.

Bit like saying - with all circuits operational in a domestic CU, if you touched the neutral bar, would you get a shock?

And when people talk about safely isolating a circuit - do you lock off the MCB and disconnect the circuit's neutral from the neutral bar?

If you don't, is it really isolated?

I'd say neutrals were more dangerous than line conductors, coz you expect danger (voltage) on a line conductor, but you get a bit laid back with a neutral.

 

[Guest123]

Cant think why you would want to, but always NO! unless you have just locked off the circuit and even then not before you have put your voltage testers on it. No telling what may be going on upstream of that point you are wanting to touch.

 

[UNG]

If the neutral was floating due to a supply transformer earth fault then it will be live

Care needs to excercised with single pole isolation in this case as it is still possible to get a shock from the neutral

 

[SirKit Breaker]

The neutral is a current carrying conductor, so i wouldnt be touching unless i knew it was isolated.

 

[Bromd123]

when dealing with neutrals I haave always been taught that they are the same as live unless disconnected, something to do with a back EMF. also an unbalanced load on the circuit would cause neutral to carry higher current wouldnt it?

 

[Jason Smith]

ok, this is what I would like to add. A neutral wire is to be considered as a return flow wire. without it no electricity can flow around a circuit. Everything we put in that circuit has a resistance. Lets call the cooker a resistor. By product that we want is heat. A lightbulb is a resistor, from that we get heat and light. The current flows in, and resists that current so that it uses the electricity, and hardly nothing is wasted, what is wasted, flows away down the neutral, as like water, the electricty has to be able to flow. Lets go back to the Live busbar at the board. Tons of juice flowing there. Nuff to send testers jumping with delight. Test on the neutral block, where they all come back to the board, and you will get nothing. (no RCDS onthis board). There always is some voltage at the neutral bar, unless every appliance is perfect. Thats why even with a circuit isolated, touching a live and neutral together will trip al the other circuits on a RCD.
Now, thinking that there is no power in a neutral, lets disconnect one from the board 9 or anywhere else if you like )thinking it has no voltage/ current. It will imediately become full power live.The current fills up the live and neutral. waiting for somewhere to go.
If I am doing major works on a circuit, I will completly disconnect that circuit from the board. I will still test at every point I am working off.(back feed, borrowed from other circuits, the list is endless ) It is also extremly rare for me to work with power on at all. Long time dead mate. Not a clear explanation here but hope it helps a bit.

 

[WayneL]

If I am doing major works on a circuit, I will completly disconnect that circuit from the board. I will still test at every point I am working off.(back feed, borrowed from other circuits, the list is endless ) It is also extremly rare for me to work with power on at all. Long time dead mate. Not a clear explanation here but hope it helps a bit.

Good Man. I totally agree.

 

[Jason Smith]

quick question here, my fluke T3 tester will not trip an RCD no matter where I test between. Other prod testers I have do. The T3 is discontinued now, and one day I will have to replace it. Does anyone know which testers wont trip RCDS? even manufacturers cant answer me.

 

[Jason Smith]

when dealing with neutrals I haave always been taught that they are the same as live unless disconnected, something to do with a back EMF. also an unbalanced load on the circuit would cause neutral to carry higher current wouldnt it?

Brom, I wrote my reply because of your words, "treat a neutral as live unless disconnected"- its when you disconnect one on its own that it becomes live.- when disconnecting,live out first, then neutral, then earth out.
Of course, as every one has said, then in with the tester or two. (you then have to eliminate other sources of a trip to the morgue)

 

[Bromd123]

Brom, I wrote my reply because of your words, "treat a neutral as live unless disconnected"- its when you disconnect one on its own that it becomes live.- when disconnecting,live out first, then neutral, then earth out.
Of course, as every one has said, then in with the tester or two. (you then have to eliminate other sources of a trip to the morgue)

Hi jason thanks for the clarification, in my example i did mean after the live had been connected as was stated in the question, but i dint make this clear so again thank!

 

[leekemp85]

When i first started out (16) I flicked the switch off to change a light fitting.


Never again I nearly went through a wall, with the back feed . The 30 five foot floures in the other room on the same circuit.

 

[Jason Smith]

Hi jason thanks for the clarification, in my example i did mean after the live had been connected as was stated in the question, but i dint make this clear so again thank!

you say live had been connected ! obviously a typo mate you meant disconnected ! getting late init !