What is a Neutral? The Difference Between Grounded and Grounding Conductors.

After a certain amount of time in the field, we get a minute understanding of what the different colored wires are and what their general function is. Our ungrounded conductors, or hots, carry current to equipment. The grounding conductor, or the ground, is intended to carry current in a ground fault situation and physically bond our system to the earth. But what exactly does that ungrounded, or neutral, conductor do? Where do we get a neutral from? Today we answer these questions and more with "What is a Neutral"!

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#electrician #electrical #electricity

[ricardomelendezlll]

Been in the field for two and a half years starting baby steps in residential, And this past weekend i passed my residential wiresman exam.. now i can support my wife and my two babies 👶 so much better and im only going up. Next is journeymen and im only 24 years old. Stumbling across your videos helped me achieve that Dustin. Thanks alot for your knowledge and wisdom brotha. God bless you all 🙏🏻

[Journeyman]

I've been a residential electrician for 12 years, just kinda fell into it because I've known the company owners for a long time. I started watching your videos and realized I didn't know nearly as much as I thought about the fundamentals of electricity. Learning a lot.

[ubersham]

This is EXACTLY the reason why neutrals need to be checked for voltage before working on them. An improperly wired neutral can kill as easily as a “hot” wire. It seems like most of the troubleshooting I’ve seen or participated in has been chasing neutrals (commercial electrician).

[GabrielRodriguez-ivfl]

I find it inspiring that while training to win the world title he managed to learn as much as he did about electrical work and now I'm learning from a certified badass.
thank you Connor McGregor!

[OccidianE]

Telling the internet not to get crazy with the details…brilliant.

[marcocastillo]

Well, it was a good run. This video is clear as mud.

[markdonovan]

I'm from United Kingdom and I like your knowledge I'm an electrician qualified. Our countries are similar in the Electrical industry but diffrent in small ways when I see how install light switches they look so confusing but not that bad in reality. You always have a switch feed and a switch wire just like anything in Electrical you have a system where the cable brakers etc goes up or down along the length of the system.

[johnfreisen]

Glad to see the terms of ungrounded, grounded, and grounding in this video as these are the proper terms for the test. great job

[breannvillarreal]

I have been doing electric work for 8 years. 7 of those years I had legal issues with are now resolved. I would really love nothing more than getting my license. This line of work is my passion and my life. If you can let me know away to go about getting my license. Please your videos are so great and teach so much. Austin tx is like a 45 min drive from my home town. So seeing your videos knowing it's helping me understand codes and the black and white side of being a Electrician. If I can get any feed back or info I would appreciate it. This is also my wife's Gmail so I comes up her name lol

[TheMinecraftACMan]

Given how closely related my trade (HVAC) and Electrical are, I've found a lot of useful info in your videos.

[natewhitaker]

Do's and Don'ts of transforming tapping with a highlight on proper bonding would be a great topic for a video. Great stuff man!

[mr.fredricklawngtawnghedav]

This person knows what he is talking about. He knows how to explain in a way that most underground engineers can clearly understand.

[hpd]

Hey Dustin! Sorry if this has already been covered, but I couldn't find any videos that looked like they address it. I know you're busy so here's the summary: Changed an irrigation pump from 120v to 240v as it was burning the outlet. I was surprised to find that in the 240v configuration it only called for the 2 hot leads and a ground. I understand a little bit about split phase, but this went against most of my knowledge of AC power. It might be interesting to talk about how this works and to also address the pros and/or cons of running that at 240v without the neutral. I detailed more below. Thanks for your videos. It's always fun to expand your understanding of things like this and you do a great job!


THE REST OF THE STORY IF YOU HAVE INTEREST:
I am a homeowner in rural Montana. I have a small piece of land 1.5 acres and I use an irrigation ditch to water my place. I'm a fairly educated homeowner when it comes to these things as I have built a building, sunk a separate ground, and wired in circuits and had an electrician inspect my work to make sure I did it correctly. My question is regarding my irrigation pump. I believe it is a 1.5hp and it sits next to my power pedestal at the road. In that box there is a main shutoff and one outlet with a breaker switch to control it. That outlet was getting fried on the one side because it was wired as a 120v outlet and I believe I was probably drawing more amperage than it could handle. So I inspected the pump and discovered that it could be wired for 240v instead. So I rewired it and then bought a 240v 3 prong outlet as that was what the pump called for. I was surprised to see that there was no neutral wired in. Just the two hot leads and the ground. I understand split phase, but this might be an interesting to cover, and I'm wondering if there is any disadvantage to running a pump this way vs at 120v with the neutral? Everything else running 240V that I have run had the neutral with it and was a 4 wire system.

[markchidester]

Video suggestions:
Why you don't get shocked from a neutral conductor.
What would happen if the neutral conductor wasn't grounded at the transformer.
The reason and importance of balancing a breaker panel.
Mainly in residential 240 volt service.

[jfmips]

Thank you, great video. P.S. try not to use the yellow on the white board, it's not visible. 😉

[ScrewThisGlueThat]

Dustin... time to change the background color on the "White Board" so we can see the "White" conductors you draw. Great Job either way.

[Keatononame]

Sent this video to my instructor, currently in school for electricity doing NEC and practicing installing a service, this explained a few things for me personally regarding load imbalance and additionally why the neutral is perfectly content being bonded with the ground within a service panel. Thanks!

[syntheticsol]

DUSTIN!!! Love the new high tech setup brother! 👌 Amazing video as always.

[WorldsOkayestSorcerer]

“What is a neutral?”

Me, a learned scholar: “That’s one below Reverse, I do believe.” 🧐

My freshly self-installed $300 ceiling fan: “Aight. I’m gonna just 🔥.”

[larryzachary]

Great explanation! Another point you might touch on in the future is the neutral is being an anchor for the system. I know we would be getting deep into theory, but I think it’s worth talking about seeing as we are in Texas with the oilfield electricians running into a corner grounded delta system. Yes the neutral provides a way for smaller voltages but also serves as an anchor to keep voltage from “spiking” so to speak. Thanks for the content, 24 years in the trade and still learning everyday. Great work!!