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[SOLVED] How do I identify Live, Neutral and Earth?

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Jay_

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Hi guys, my water heater's its coil has gone. I have disconnected it and will buy a new water heater. Just some questions though, the wires from the wall are all entangled and of same colour covering (red). I have a multimeter, how do I correctly identify which wire is Earth, Live or Neutral? I need to right, if I have to connect it correctly to the new water heater?

I opened up another switch in my house and found

V (earth-neutral) = 0 V
V (live-neutral) = 240 V
V (earth-live) = 240 V ... however, that still doesn't allow me to single out and say which is which between Earth and Neutral. How do I find out?

The wires from the disconnected end of the water heater are green, red and black cover, and is it correct (or safe) to assume:
Green for Earth
Black for Neutral
Red for Live?
 

The ground wire and the neutral wire will both display extremely low resistance to an earth ground as they are bonded together at some point (if the installation is properly done, subject to the local regulations) ..

As the earth wire is not used to conduct current it should not display any voltage drop if a load is connected somewhere within your installation – at your side of the meter ..
Try to connect a load of, say, 1kW somewhere else and then measure voltage between all three wires –
-by now you should know which wire is the active (A),
-the neutral wire should show small voltage drop between itself and A,
-the earth wire should not show voltage drop between itself and A ..

The wires from the disconnected end of the water heater are green, red and black cover, and is it correct (or safe) to assume:
Green for Earth
Black for Neutral
Red for Live?
.. most likely ..

IanP
:wink:
 
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    Jay_

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If the earth is ok, the multimeter on AC range will read anywhere below 10 Volts from neutral to earth. Phase to Neutral and earth will show 220 volts, and even you can connect a bulb across which will glow. Phase wire can easily be identified by a handy AC tester where the neon bulb glows on contact. On the socket side when seen from front, Right side will be phase, left will be Neutral and centre top will be earth.
Cheers
 

actually, given the question by the original poster I don't think he is knowledgeable enough to be mucking with this.
It would be horrible if he gets advice here and then proceeds to electrocute himself because he does not understand it sufficiently.

Crikey, hire a electrician, the money that costs is nothing compared to what your life is worth.
 

actually, given the question by the original poster I don't think he is knowledgeable enough to be mucking with this.
It would be horrible if he gets advice here and then proceeds to electrocute himself because he does not understand it sufficiently. Crikey, hire a electrician, the money that costs is nothing compared to what your life is worth.
I would like to add.....Play safe..but at your own risk.
 

The wires from the disconnected end of the water heater are green, red and black cover, and is it correct (or safe) to assume:
Green for Earth
Black for Neutral
Red for Live?

Green is bond, Red and Black are line hots, suppling 208vac. Neutrals are always white, which you don't have in this hookup.
 

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