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.