Electrical Wire Hot Neutral Ground Colors

More specifically neutral wire brings the circuit to a ground or busbar usually connected at the electrical panel.

Electrical wire hot neutral ground colors. Once hot wire has initialized the beginning of a circuit there must be another wire to complete the circuit. Neutral wire carries the circuit back to the original power source. The us national electrical code for both ac and dc mandates that the grounded neutral conductor of a power system be white or grey. By convention that means the wire is hot.

The ground wire is for safety. This is incredibly important to know before you start any kind of home wiring project as well as essential to your safety so let s explore what these colored wires mean and when to use them. Hot active wires may be any other colors except these. A number of different colors may be used for the hot wire in various types of switch wiring while neutral and ground wires should always be the same.

The neutral wire can also be gray. The hot or live conductor sheathed in black typically carries power to a 110 volt light or receptacle while a neutral conductor would carry energy away and a bare copper ground wire can. Sometimes you ll find a white wire with a piece of black electrical tape wrapped around it. Like the neutral wire the ground wire is also connected to an earth ground.

The national electrical code nec says that white or gray must be used for neutral conductors and that bare copper or green wires must be used as ground wires. When you connect an outlet or light switch the black wire goes to the brass screws. The neutral wire forms a part of the live circuit along with the hot wire. This role is filled by neutral wire.

The protective ground must be bare green or green yellow striped. However common practice per local electrical inspectors is for the first hot live or active wire to be black and the. Any other colors expected the above mentioned can be used for live line or hot wires. The mandatory colors for power wiring in national electric codes nec are green bare or green yellow yellow strip or band on green for protective ground pg and white alternatively grey for neutral wire.

If you are engaging in any home wiring proper identification of wires is imperative so that you end up making the right connections. Identifying electrical wiring properly is an important step when replacing a light fixture installing an outlet or handling other electrical work. The hot and neutral lines should be two distinct colors but the colors can vary for the different wires. Learn how to identify wires for your safety.

Fortunately the color coatings around the copper conductor of the wire give you all the clues you need to know as to what each wire does and whether it s hot neutral or ground. If you have a ground wire it s green or bare. In contrast the ground wire is connected to any metal parts in an appliance such as a microwave oven or coffee pot.