Can You Get Shocked From a Neutral Conductor?

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At some point, most of us electricians have received a shock from touching a hot conductor and something that is grounded. Some of us have also been shocked by touching 2 different hot conductors! But what about a neutral conductor? Is it possible to get shocked by the neutral? In the latest episode of Electrician U, Dustin talks about this phenomenon and clears a few things up.
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As we have discussed in previous episode of Electrician U, in order for electricity to work as we intend it to, it must travel in loops. In a 120v circuit, for example, current leaves on the hot conductor, travels THRU the load, and returns on the neutral conductor. In this way, the loop is closed and current can flow. Break either the hot or the neutral, and current will no longer flow and whatever load you have in the circuit will not operate. The same process is true for a multi hot (240v with 2 hots for example) circuit. Current will travel out on one hot, THRU the load, and back on the other hot completing the circuit and allowing the current to flow.
To receive a shock, you must be touching something that is energized AND something else that allows the loop to be completed and current to flow. So, the hot wire and the ground wire or the hot wire and a neutral or the hot wire and another hot wire. Any of those scenarios will allow current to flow and you will receive a nasty shock! So, with neutrals, the same rules apply. You must be touching the neutral conductor AND something else for it to SHOCK you! Imagine if you were touching the side of the lamp screw shell with one hand and something grounded with the other, you will receive a shock (in addition to having the lamp come ON!). But if you were to touch the side of that lamp screw shell and NOTHING ELSE, then the loop will NOT be closed and current CANNOT flow.
You could potentially receive a shock from a neutral conductor if it is not bonded to ground at the service point. But again, to get shocked by the neutral conductor, you would have to be touching it AND something else so current can flow. It is possible to get shocked by touching two neutrals. If you were to touch the neutral coming from the side of a screw shell from a light bulb and the neutral GOING TO the panel, you will most definitely (if the circuit is energized) receive a shock. But this is only because you are completing the loop! At the point of the screw shell, the neutral conductor touching it is essentially the same wire as the hot as things will be travelling thru the filament of the light bulb. So, again, you are just completing the loop and allowing current to flow.
As a good rule of thumb, when working on something that is energized, don’t touch 2 things at once! Some older electricians keep one hand in a pocket, so it forces them to not touch anything with it. Check your boots and make sure they are solid and make sure you are not standing or kneeling in water. Best option is to turn the circuit off, but if necessary to work with something energized (yes there are reasons why we NEED to have it on), take the necessary steps to protect yourself.

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29 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 298

@AM-hf9kk Год назад

Been there done that - with the breaker off! Shared Neutral (i obviously wasn't aware of it) across at least three different circuits in a 1950's house that saw various "handyman" and homeowner modifications through the decades. Bonus points for three-prong receptacles with no ground. I was moving a kitchen light fixture that shared a circuit with one or two receptacles in the same room, and verified all were dead. Went to wire nut the new fixture to the existing neutral, and completed the circuit for what I later found was the back bedrooms. The bedrooms' hots had their own breaker, but some psycopath didn't feel like running a separate neutral 50'.

@sundancer442 Год назад

Hapened that way to me too.

@douglasboyle6544 Год назад

Been there. I'm beginning to wonder if they didn't just build them that way for a while.

@durther7574 Год назад

Yup. Allowed by code back then.

@arthurmoore9488 Год назад

And this is why when I was helping my parents out I refused to work on something when my no-contact voltage tester lit. Yes, I know those things aren't perfect, but better safe than sorry.

@XxTWMLxX Год назад

Been there. Done that too. Shared neutral 3 rooms and 50ft apart. With other circuits in middle. So why it was shared with own hot breakers. Idk...

@ValenceFlux Год назад

I was an apprentice on a job with the DCR where I was shocked up the leg when I knelt down on the grass and reached in to splice in a light pole. The city engineer told the shop to tell the electrician it was off and to have me splice it in. After I got shocked and ended up on the ground the wireman came over to do exactly what he told me to do and got shocked as well. After he overcame the initial shock as well he got me up and had us call the shop who said it must of been backfed somewhere if the circuit was indeed verified off by the city engineer who insisted we did not need a key to the panel at a public facility. My legs never worked properly again. I've tried so hard to move on with my life but I live with the affects of the risk of this job and my life was forever altered. Always verify no matter who it makes look bad it's your life and someone else. Good topic to cover. I get a lot of flack when the inexperienced insist you can't ever get shocked from a neutral. Caught up in a circuit was another way to communicate that potential better or something like that. The wireman said a few things to me one of which was this would make a great story about electrical work someday. I heard he had a heart attack on a ladder just a few years later. Some of the people I worked with didn't survive or had such awful injuries.

@rangerrecon Год назад

The bottom line is that, if the neutral has potential on it in comparison to something else you're in contact with, then sure - you can get a shock (if the potential is sufficient). Generally, of course, the neutral is grounded, so coming in contact with it alone isn't an issue. I'm a little cautious with the word "touching" as someone may think that is physically touching with the hand, as described in the video. You can get a shock by touching a hot lead and nothing else if your footwear isn't sufficiently insulated. I think that there are a lot of amateur do-it-yourselfers (e.g. non-electricians working on their own homes) that watch this channel and they aren't likely wearing footwear designed for electricians. If they touch a hot, they're going to feel it as their feet are the other "touch" point to ground, completing the circuit.

@acat6000 Год назад

But you wouldn't be touching nothing in that case, you would be touching the ground with your feet. The principle holds true.

@googleevil9553 Год назад

@@acat6000 Touching a neutral under load you would be in a parallel circuit to ground I believe, most of the amperage going through the neutral. Yes? Am I thinking this right?

@scottmyers10 Год назад

@@acat6000 If you touch a hot wire and nothing else, you can't get shocked. If we're living in a pretend world where you can touch just the wire even lightning can't shock you. In fact, if you are touching a hot wire and something else that has the same phase and potential as the hot wire (like when a lineman grounds a helicopter to a live 2 million volt line so the frame has equal potential to the line) you cannot get shocked. You get shocked when the voltage can cross from one potential to another that has a potential difference, making the video misleading. The principle holds true under a narrow set of circumstances with a large number of special conditions, but it does not hold true for everyday people who will never be in a scenario where it is applicable.

@scottmyers10 Год назад

A lot of mistakes I see from people who are trying to understand insulation and how it works comes from the high school curriculum and the false statement they make that rubber is an insulator and electricity cannot flow through it.

@googleevil9553 Год назад

@@scottmyers10 broh

@garretrobinson3668 Год назад

Awesome presentation as usual, but I wish you would have taken a moment to warn the newer guys about shared neutrals. Even if the circuit you’re working on is off, it doesn’t mean that same neutral wire isn’t being used for a separate circuit elsewhere that is still active. This is common practice in my area, especially in older buildings.

@THEDARKHORSES2001 Год назад

dude you are totally right haha i gotta be careful haha

@dougkuerschner1735 Год назад

Agreed shared neutrals 277v oweee

@dnasty9673 Год назад

He has a video about shared neutrals.

@ggrimm79 8 месяцев назад

These types of videos and reading comments like these are the reason why as a handyman, I tell my clients that I don't work in electrical panels, and I don't do electrical in walls, because I know enough to know that I don't know enough.

@ggrimm79 8 месяцев назад

Still, I love to learn, and I'm seriously interested in becoming an electrician. At 44 years of age, is it worth getting into it now?

@sebcsaba Год назад

1:13 "and then like just jump through the air" yes, it can. I did get a shock this way. European, 3 phase system, one conductor touched my finger, and two centimeters below a spark came out from my finger into the other conductor, jumping through ~2-3mm of airgap. 400V, I'm lucky, had a scar for a month.

@evonhenry7251 Год назад

What about touching a live wire, while bear footed on a concrete floor or touching a concrete wall.

@zephyrdelight3411 Год назад

Yes

@rangerrecon Год назад

You're going to get a shock.

@kmagnussen1052 Год назад

Three way switch where they originally wired a common neutral instead of the independent neutral to the light and each switch through the travelers. The neutral from two three way switches independent and they combined the neutrals. Depending on the switch settings there was voltage in reference to ground on the neutral. I learned the hand in the pocket from my dad an electrical engineer. When followed never got shocked. Some times you just got to use two hands.

@mikestaihr5183 Год назад

Braced against a sheet metal stud in a tract house I felt a jolt thru my shirt on my back. Checked my drop cord, Hole Hawg cord and switch.Nothing wrong with any of them. Finally determined that there was an open neutral at the temp pole that Del Webb had installed for the houses we were working on. Apparently the power was depending on the equipment ground to complete the circuit to the temporary panel.There were other subs working off this pole but nobody else had noticed a problem....yet.... I went to the super and warned him of an unsafe condition and was promptly ignored. I mean here was a plumber trying to tell him that he had an electrical problem so what the hell could I know. Right? I knew someone could be hurt so I went out and "disabled" the panel. When all the subs started screaming that their power was off and the panel was "damaged" they were out there in nothing short of light speed to fix it.....a whining plumber getting shocked was one thing but slowing down of production was an entirely different thing.... Money always speaks louder than one lonely plumber......🤣🤣🤣

@gavinjames7205 Год назад

No if it is a neutral. When it is connected to the source neutral. When a neutral is removed or disconnected from the neutral bar, it becomes an extension of the live / line conductor and your having a belt

@Photonsnmotion Год назад

Unless it was wired by a builder D.Hxxx where a neutral and ground is a live as 3:56 . Keep up these great videos.

@kevinyancey958 Год назад

Yes, you can, if things don't work the way they are supposed to! If you are the conductor between a neutral and ground, you will get shocked.

@petersmith2481 7 месяцев назад

Thanks for another great video! I do have one question on the open neutral. I'm just trying to understand how much of a shock a person will get if they complete the circuit for the open neutral described in the video. In that case, the person and light bulb will be be in series in the circuit, so I assume the voltage drop across the person will be less than 120 volts and hence the shock won't be as bad as it would be otherwise?

@dingo137 4 месяца назад

It might be a little bit lower, but probably not by that much. A 60 watt bulb on 120V will have a resistance of 240 ohms. Your body's resistance will be much higher than that (and if it's not, you're really screwed as you'll get a huge current going through you). So most of the 120V will be across you.

@elc2k385 Год назад

Thank you.

@johnhubbard6262 Год назад

So if an appliance dishwasher, or fridge 110v shocks you when touching the handle or surface your points are the appliance and the gound via your feet on the floor?

@raindropsrising7662 Год назад

Thanks for the wonderful explanation!

@Wolf-rg7ih Год назад

Question , i was trying to changed a light fixture in a old house And both cables had power , and I instal the light fix. Worked. Normals - why is that??

@Crazypug-eh7xi Год назад

Awesome break down

@randomcuriosities8441 Год назад

Oh man can you! The greater the load the more it's gonna bite. Sorry didn't watch the video, already knew the answer. This is why if more than one 120 or 277 volt circuits share a neutral, a 2 or 3 pole breaker must be used.

@tedlahm5740 Год назад

If it is open going back to the step down transformer. Katy bar the door.

@danielson101 Год назад

yes you can

@nikogarcia3249 Год назад

It's pretty simple actually. If you get between the load and the path back to the ground on the neutral, you will get shocked. If you are before the load, the neutral will not shock you.

@TheOriginalJoneser Год назад

I have been shocked on a Neutral more than once. Multiple voltages This is about the Late 1980's with 480-volt 3-phase lighting. I am sitting on metal bleachers inside the building for a "SAFETY MEETING" and I reached up and grabbed the ceiling grid and slumped off of it during being shocked. The person giving the safety looked like he thought I was falling asleep, because as soon as I was off the grid, I regained sight. I showed them the one gray wire hanging out of the ceiling and touching the bleachers. He had some guy kill the lights and he showed me on his meter that there was no voltage from the wire to the bleachers. CYA! (Cover Your ASS!) I know what happened, and I don't believe I took the full load, although I may have been a parallel to ground. Other than that stupidity, always know where your skin is and what it is touching, and how well you are insulated I.E. Boots, Gloves ETC. BTW, YES is the answer to the video name.

@alphasaiyan5760 Год назад

I saw a guy blow half of his hand out from a 277 volt lighting neutral. Because he was working a j box hot and he hooked up the hots and switch legs first like a dumbass.

@williamtadeo8003 Год назад

Did he say 15KV? Good to know he’s ok! But no damage, really?

@jersmith1486 Год назад

and why work on something live like that? I guess you have to sometimes?

@Huyautomation2901 Год назад

No,touching one line wire can shock you

@samthai818 Год назад

You cannot get shocked from neutral. Hence the definition neutral. Without watching the video I am sure you are going to describe a way where neutral has been compromised where someone can get shocked. By definition again, then that case would no longer be neutral. Ask your question again describing your case with more details on the scenario where neutral can be compromised. The way you posed your question, it is an emphatic no and it would be extremely ignorant to say otherwise.

@joelboutier1736 Год назад

Yup. Absolutely been shocked by the neutral on a multiwire branch circuit. The circuit I was working on was off but neutral was apparently shared with another circuit that was not. I separated the neutrals and while twisting them back together, I got shocked through making contact on my sidecutters. Decent load on it too! Do not underestimate the neutral. If you're in a building that was wired when sharing neutrals was still up to code, you have to use your clamp meter to test for amperage & see if there is a load still passing through the neutral.

@christraudt6730 2 месяца назад

mwbc are still code as far as the NEC goes. they just need to have a common disconnecting means, most commonly in the form of a 2 pole breaker

@danukepaintball Год назад

Oh boy, the "you can't get shocked by a neutral" people are not going to like this LOL

@danukepaintball Год назад

@A Town Yeah, quite a bit actually. All over forums, and even here on youtube.

@Hatim.13 Год назад

@A Town The argument is that if a Neutral is OPENED it is NOT a neutral anymore, it might be a conductor with white insulation, but it doesn't act as a Neutral anymore because it is OPEN (which makes it hot).

@damonburkholder3021 Год назад

@@Hatim.13 exactly

@jamess1787 Год назад

In an old building, I got shocked by the neutral (and arm on metal box), I think it was load imbalance in an old building. Neutral was connected in a sub-panel to the right (isolated) bus; can still feel the "wiggling worms" in my arm to this day. 😬. Not an electrician btw.

@tedlahm5740 Год назад

@@Hatim.13 Which makes it (you) part of a series circuit to ground.

@brianpiper3188 Год назад

Don't forget the neutral that's not really a neutral. If you use a neutral as a hot, label it!

@dracula3811 Год назад

You can get shocked by touching the neutral and ground if there's a load on the neutral. Source, it's happened to me.

@erich1380 Год назад

Some other factor must have been present because we've all been in desperate situations where you lost your neutral but still had 120 to ground so you landed that to the neutral screw in the device. You must have just broke the load on the return path and it made contact with the ground while you were touching it

@okaro6595 Год назад

On a proper system the voltage loss on neutral cannot be so high that you get socked. All my grounded sockets are done with TN-C so the cases are connected to the neutral and I do not get shocked. I have measured about one volt with 5 A load. If the neutral is broken then sure you get shocked from it.

@erich1380 Год назад

@@okaro6595 yep

@dracula3811 Год назад

@@erich1380 this was a long time ago when neutrals were shared. I was landing a neutral in a push in wago and it was fighting going in. I used my strippers as pliers to grab onto the wire to push and twist it in. My elbow was touching a metal fire suppression pipe. My hand must have been touching the metal part of the strippers and the strippers made contact with the copper. It was an emergency and exit lighting circuit that was on. So my arm completed the path from the neutral to the ground. There was no device in that j-box i was working on. I was not touching any hots. So i got shocked by touching the neutral and ground while there was a load on the neutral. There was no mystery or anything like that going on. It's very simple what happened.

@ecospider5 Год назад

Human body is 300 ohms. 100 feet of 14 awg wire is 1/4 ohms. There is a calculation that will tell you what percentage would follow each path. Obviously 1/4 ohm is way smaller than 300 ohms so the wire will carry most of the load.

@twestgard2 Год назад

Unless you’re floating in space, you’re touching the floor, or a scaffold, or a bucket, or something. There’s no scenario where the only thing you’re touching is the neutral.

@ecospider5 Год назад

There is a scenario where everything you are touching is insulated enough you are not a path for the electricity. That is why there is footwear for electricians that is rated for how many volts it will protect you from. And why electricians should never touch their knee to the ground.

@twestgard2 Год назад

@@ecospider5 Right, but “insulated enough” is a moving target that changes with voltage. That’s why microwave transformers and lichtenberg devices are so dangerous.

@ecospider5 Год назад

Yes and that is why the shoes are rated just like the rest of electricians protective gear. Do not wear gear rated for 300v when working on 15kv motors.

@jsb7546 Год назад

@@ecospider5 most gear I've seen even for low voltage 50 to 600 volts is rated for at least 600 if not 1000 volts never seen something only rated for 300v volts never the less I see what your saying use the right PPE I'd also recommend make sure to inspect it regularly like every use basically, learned that from some local lineman they were showing me even a pin hole in the gloves and you'll get fried right up and thats high volt crazy shit I'm over here just wiring some single phase panels but still gotta stay safe boy's good luck out there 🤞.

@ecospider5 Год назад

I was going off the voltages you see on multimeter ratings. And yes class 0 voltage rated gloves are 1000v and the ratings go up from there. But there are lower stuff. EA640ZD-5 As an example is 300v AC and 750v DC. No actual electrician would ever buy those though.

@dhender85 Год назад

I was working on a box above a grid a few months ago. I was leaning on it, and accidentally touched the hot. It was only 120v, but it was the worst pain I've experienced from electricity. Definitely a learning experience for me.

@twil4909 Год назад

Try getting hit with the high leg of a 400 amp bus bar. Sucks...

@operasinger2126 Год назад

were you grounded to any thing or did your body's surface area create some sort of loop?

@professorg8383 Год назад

There are a variety of factors that go into how "badly" you get shocked. The number 1 factor is the voltage or potential. Everything else tends to be limiting factors to how well that potential allows current to flow. So the pathways the current takes can make a significant difference, You don't want current flowing through your heart or your brain. So trying to keep the pathways away from those two areas is in your best benefit. You can pass some fairly high currents in milliamps that hurt a lot and may even cause some burns or even some internal damage without being killed. But lesser currents that pass through the heart or the brain can lead to death. Ultimately, the resistance of the pathway, is the primary limiting factor. We have both internal and external resistance, (through the skin contact areas). There has been a lot of research through the years and one thing it tells us is that different individuals have different internal resistances. But in a given individual their resistance can vary through the day. Research suggests a few groupings across a sampling of individuals. The biggest grouping being around 80% who have very similar resistance and then two groups of about 5-10% that have considerably higher or lower resistance. So most people will have very similar levels of internal resistance, but there will also be some "exceptional" individuals on both ends of the spectrum. With this in mind, they developed current ranges and typical perception and effects of these current levels. Some things like perceivable levels in the few milliamp range. tingling, minor pain, extreme pain, muscle contraction. "let go" threshold, mild burns, etc, all the way up to typical lethal levels. Another key factor before we get to the internal resistance, which is quite low, we have skin/contact resistance. These end up being the pathway entry and exist points. This is generally higher resistance than internal resistance, but can vary widely. Dry, callused skin has fairly high resistance, soft, supple skin has lower resistance. Moisture can lower resistance dramatically. Larger contact areas make lower resistance. Pressure or compression, also makes for lower resistance. "leaning contact" is usually a larger area with some pressure. Leaning contact with moist damp skin and solid grips, will deliver some "strong" shocks. Women and children tend to be a bit more susceptible to higher current shocks. Body mass can play a role too. When grabbing something and getting currents above the so called "let go threshold", muscle contractions can tend to keep you in contact, being hard to pull free. This is generally thought to be around 30 milliamps. But depending on which muscles get activated, these can also act to push you away. Any jointed body parts have opposing muscles. So you can be drawn in or pushed back depending on which muscles get activated. Sometimes that can contribute to other injuries. So in the end, it generally gets down to the math, but the variables can differ greatly. Higher voltage will cause stronger shocks. The time length of a shock is usually pretty quick, but longer length shocks can be worse. When you get above around 300 volts or have sustained shock currents, flesh can began to breakdown. That will obviously be worse and can cause permanent damage. If you are on the low resistance side of the spectrum, you'll likely get worse shocks and may perceive small shocks that other don't. If you are on the high resistance end of the spectrum, you are a bit better off, but the variable factors can still make you vulnerable. You can get some strong shocks or be killed by 120 volts, but the potential is worse at 240 volts. If you are going to work with electricity, odds are that you will get shocked from time to time. The key is paying attention and using safe practices. Avoid working stuff live and don't do it because of laziness to shut something off. Depending on the type work you do, there may be times when there is little choice. It's just good practice to work things like they are live. even when you know they aren't.

@FishFind3000 Год назад

Essentially if a wire has the possibility to carry current it has the possibly to shock you. So don’t touch any damn wires regardless of the color! Copper/aluminum work the same no matter if it’s colored green or black.

@nateristowa6899 Год назад

the first time i watched your videos when i first thought of becoming an electrician, i had no idea what you were talking about. 2 semesters into trade tech, and now everything your saying makes sense. its kinda fun.

@bernardchangtyseng7202 11 месяцев назад

But if you touch the hot wire without having to touch any other wire, given the you are link with the floor,,,, then it means that you grounded, hence currently will definitely go through your body.

@durther7574 Год назад

Happened to me! The job was simple, replace 50 year old outlets on the bedroom circuit. Got a helluva a shock on something that should be safe and simple. Traced back to find that the thermostat transformer was tied into the same circuit. Even with the breaker off, it was powered, because 1960 code said you can run 2 breakers with a common neutral. Arrgh.

@njphil1279 Год назад

Actually you can never get shocked by the neutral. You can get shocked by the "white" wire if it's not physically connected to the neutral, but then it's really not a neutral, it's a white wire

@wiley0714 Год назад

"Your probably gonna turn on the lightbulb too" that was the best part... ;)

@stevenshelton3828 Год назад

I like your final comment about how you can get shocked by any two conductors. Everyone needs to remember you can even get shocked if the actual ground is a conductor and the ground wire could contain some potential from the actual ground. Love your videos and I learn a lot even though I will probably never become an electrician. Understanding is always a plus.

@BryceLenz Год назад

I got shocked when I was unbundling some neutral wires, even though I had already checked that there were no live wires in the electrical box I was working in. Took me a bit of time to figure out why I got shocked. Turned out it was a neutral wire that was part of a multi-branch circuit and my panel didn't have a double breaker used for it. I appreciated your video on multi-branch circuits. I now treat neutrals with more respect.

@qapla Год назад

A good way to explain how only one conductor does not allow current to shock someone touching ONLY one conductor is pointing out that, not completing a circuit, is why birds can sit on transmission lines

@Ajme-kb4os Год назад

@@sunshinesucks1355 just hope your boots are well insulated

@francoisloriot2674 Год назад

how can they sit in it?

@MitzvosGolem1 Год назад

I was digging up a steam line with excavator and a pipefitter jumped down into trench and cut pipe away from Building. When he touched both cut half's climbing out of wet trench he was electrocuted . 911 call. I saw him drop into trench and we tried to pull him out. He survived CPR used by a guy who was from Us Navy Medic. Turns out the steam water condensate pipe were bonded to ground neutral and when he cut pipe potential existed between both halves. His wet hands touching both sides almost killed him. In IBEW we were taught to test with back of left hand only .

@americanliberty4898 Год назад

You get shocked any time you complete an energized circuit, whether its a hot or a neutral!

@slushbilly5893 Год назад

Now explain sharing neutrals.

@JackKirbyFan Год назад

Great video. I smiled at the title. I find it interesting you never use the terms 'open' and 'short' and 'closed' circuit. Granted I did EE (now I flip homes) but those terms were thrown around all over the place. Is that no longer true? Thanks!

@LastofallJedi Год назад

Nailed it. I enjoyed the part about grid ceilings. I've been shocked the same way. Another reason I wear long sleeve shirts. Local story, lunchtime, foreman sticks around working lighting in a grid ceiling 277 hot. Something happened, lunch ended and workers reported a person's chest missing. Cooked. So unfortunate. They cooked in the ceiling because it wasn't what they were touching with their hands, it was the other thing their body was touching. Probably not related to the neutral. Great video. Been watching and all great content. I really appreciate that your content is CEU compliant. Amazing

@XxTWMLxX Год назад

7:10 I do this when working on server ups units. Capacitors hurt when they discharge through you. Always 1 hand in pocket and I'm standing on a rubber floor mat. Those big server ups units the size of file cabinets are no small tickle.

@lloydmills9619 Год назад

So what does a neutral become when it's opened? Is it still a neutral?

@kenzo4Ever Год назад

No. In this case It is just a wire being the continuity of the hot wire (it's a hot wire then), standing there waiing to complete the circuit. If you touch that wire the circuit is then completed flowing through you to the ground (Completing the circuit) and you will be schocked Now If you carefully connect that wire to the common neutral bar of the house then it's ok, the current will flow now to your main house breaker then continue outside till the main transformer of the building area. There it's connected back to the transformer and also grounded and this is what is called neutral, it's all this path back "connection" to the main tranaformer and grounded there as well (for safety reasons) A broken neutral wire is just a wire, not a neutral. So be very carefull with this and with any wire 😅

@ecospider5 Год назад

My dad was dealing with a 1970’s bathroom with a 3 way switch. He turned off the breaker and then cut 2 wires at once and there was a flash and those wire cutters now have a big chunk out of them. The way the 3 way switch worked was they used another wire from a different circuit. That bathroom no longer has a 3 way switch.

@brenteichel7661 Год назад

An area with poor grounding can cause you to get “shocked” off the system neutral. Very common in rocky areas, guys will get poked off the system neutral or service drops

@LL----LL34 2 месяца назад

It's incorrect to say you must be touching two things .. If the neutral wire breaks from the earth connection that neutral becomes a live wire .. it's only a neutral when it is connected to the earth. So if it breaks from the earth it is no longer a neutral. .. it's a live wire so touching with one hand will be enough to get a shock .. the nearer the break is to the load the worst the shock.

@trinomoreno9212 Год назад

I got hit by static electricity while making up a 12 x 12 today.. scared the hell out of me 😅

@carlodonnell146 2 месяца назад

Yes but I think what we mean is... can a neutral shock a person as opposed to a live positive; I wondered about that too...since the current goes back to the panel on the neutral I suppose it could shock a person but you would still have to be grounded? is that what youre saying? AND IS IT CORRECT TO SAY THAT THE SHOCK WOULDNT BE AS BAD AS A FEED WIRE BECAUSE THE CURRENT IS ALREADY SPENT PASSING THROUGH THE LOAD? does that make any sense?

@zone07 Год назад

So if I stand on a wooden ladder, can I touch the hot wire and not get shocked?

@ButterBar0830 Год назад

If the neutral is compromised, heck yeah.

@paultrauzzi5360 Месяц назад

Test everything first and always. You can get shocked by the hot, neutral and the ground. If the voltage is high enough it doesn't matter what else you are touching. If you touch the wrong side of a neutral you are completing the circuit. TEST EVERYTHING

@subatomicparticle6535 Месяц назад

The video makes it sound like you can NEVER be shocked by just touching the black "Hot" wire with one hand. So if I touch the black "Hot" wire as you did at 1:07 in the video and I'm standing barefoot on the ground or in a puddle of water I won't be shocked? Wouldn't the current try to pass through me to ground and back to the transformer?

@johnferreira9223 9 месяцев назад

"KEEP YOUR OTHER HAND IN YOUR POCKET " ....now that's some O'G old school way of teaching....I was taught that way by a few 20 years back...don't hear that much no more

@josephpowell6009 15 дней назад

so ... in a old bone dry wood attic with dry boots on i can grab the hot wire directly and be fine ? this seems loco especially with the ac part , but there are birds on lines. not saying you are wrong , but i dont believe you enough to test this myself.

@donteventryit89 3 месяца назад

When was a child, I grew up in a house that was originally built in the 1950's. It had a finished basement with two prong outlets. There was a lamp that we would turn on by pushing a switch on the lamp. I remember getting shocked by that lamp at random times and I didn't know why. Since I was a kid, I didn't understand what was going on. What was happening is that sometimes I was touching the metal lamp socket shell or cap while pushing the switch of the lamp. Sometimes I would do this with bare feet or with socks on. So I was completing the circuit with my feet even though the floor was tiled. I'm making this point because when we use the word "touch", people assume that means with your hands, they never consider that their feet can complete the circuit.

@Bapuji42 16 дней назад

a white wire isn't necessarily a neutral, and you don't necessarily have to be touching a wire to be grounded. nicely explained.

@jeffs1759 Год назад

Bull**** You can ABSOLUTELY get shocked by touching JUST THE NEUTRAL. Last year I nearly fell off of a 20 foot scaffold after shocking myself on a 277 fire exit sign. I had to work on it live, so I was extremely careful. I capped the ground, capped the black and only had the neutral left bare. I used my linemen to twist the wire around (the other wires) to pull it out of the receptacle. Sure enough, I was preparing to cap the neutral, but the wire was all messed up, so I went to straighten it with my thumb and forefinger and BAMN. Got blasted HARD. My feet were on my wooden plank with my insulated boots, and both hands were above my head. One hand on my linemans holding the wire, ,(neutral wire) the other hand touched the neutral end.

@joshscomedynetwork3016 Год назад

Please explain to me how did i just not get hit by only touching the hot and nothin else oh i no my i was in Walmart shoes that were not non conductive so when you introduce your self as a ground you now are ground potential so there is no need for a neutral you'll be lit up like a drunk at a baby shower and please explain why you cant be hit by a loaded neutral to when the hot is off cause you do know that loaded neutrals (on a dead system ) can and will kill you please tell me how that dont work to and dont ever think you got to touch it for it to hurt or kill cause a.c voltage can ionize through the air to get to you for the least path of resistance but thats on hight voltage a.c and minimal separation is 3 foot without non conductive material clothing

@the_oni_desdenova Месяц назад

Ive gotten shocked by ground before. Ground has potential towards phase but i wasnt touching phase i also once managed to make signal lights go on with out being connected to - or ground you people keep forgetting that the power grid isnt the only thing in existence which has electric properties i mean all of chemistry is based on the behaviour of atoms with each other dependent on their outer most layer of electrons and thats just one example you yourself are also an electrical system your brain controlls your muscles through electric signals your heart and brain also have em fields which sometimes obscures meters and is measurable these fields tho weak in theory have infinite reach because similair to every em field moving through a conductor creating a current and vice versa every em field creates a gravitational field and just for better understanding signal lights dont need to be particularly bright

@jmrandom194 3 месяца назад

Umm if one hand touches the live wire, on an open circuit, unless you are floating you don't need to have current jump out of your other hand. By standing, you are already grounded. So yes, touching the live wire on an open circuit will indeed shock, and.possibly kill you.

@jonathanfalvo2414 4 месяца назад

I touched the neutral from a doorbell transformer, with my right hand, my left hand was on the body of the panel. Worst shock I’ve ever had, affected my heart rhythm for a minute or two. Scared the absolute shit out of me. I now take much more precaution any time hot work is necessary.

@bradb877 11 месяцев назад

You can touch just a neutral and get shocked. It's just a wire it carries current. Remember you are working on a circuit that has an issue. 3 wires burned together. But its 10 feet down in the wall. You have a fresh pristine receptacle you grab the neutral and you get electrocuted and die. It's because down the line there was an issue. So never just assume it's all wired correctly. There is a reason you were called out to work on it. It's not brand new zero issue circuit. Especially on 277 volt commercial property's.

@CH-dr7nm 6 месяцев назад

The worst shock I ever got in my career I was working at an ice cream store famous for having a pink canopy inside that pink canopy wrapped around the front was illuminated by fluorescent lighting it had one big high output ballast and I had it on and my back was leaning on to the framing of the canopy I could feel the power going through my fingers and out my back and it actually left a big green burn on my back I got down a 16-foot ladder in less than 1 second without falling

@Tw1steD247 Год назад

Touching two points, a man lift that wasn't grounded parked under 350kv(or better) lines for the weekend, in an environment where the voltage pen lit up outside. Strapped in and drove inside went up right hand on the boom basket railing, left hand reaching out to over head door, didn't even make context.. all the built up energy must have left through me to ground. Still can't hold 5lbs above chest height. Constantly dropping tools after 1.5 years later and a hand surgery.. still only have about 40% grip strength, if that. Still looking for the proper health professional to assist with rehab

@dougschadel8094 13 дней назад

You need to do a live demonstration on how you can't get shocked 😅😅. Set up a outlet and go touch a nuetral with a live circuit

@jernejkurincic9050 Год назад

First, I find it somewhat criminal that you mention just in the last minute that you can quite easily make a full circuit by touching ground - or standing on it (from previous six minutes it would seem touching hot is perfectly safe (your drawing is also misleading in that way)). Brainstorming, when touching neutral (or "neutral") can be dangerous: (I live in a country with non polarized electrical sockets and 230VAC in them): - wrong colour of the wire (laziness or negligence) in the installation or even wrong labels - somebody somewhere turned aroud the plug that shouldn't be turned around or miswired it - interrupted or damaged neutral - can quite easily be at full hot potential, specially with higher powers - interrupted can easily mean someboy has managed to install a switch on it instead of hot - or a broken two pole switch, which turns off neutral, but not hot Let us not get in more exotic scenarios with multi phase systems and such. Generally, for me no wire in the installation is a neutral wire unless I test it to be.

@XxTWMLxX Год назад

I was rewiring a room one time. Though power was off initially. Then as I take a receptacle apart. I notice a 12/3 wire not the usual 12/2. Previous someone carried 2 hots from 2 breakers over on 1 cable. With seperate conductors. Then they split in a receptacle box. I had power off I though. Then I seen that. And rechecked breakers... I don't usually use noncontact "deathsticks" as they can be inaccurate but I now atleast use it as a 2nd or 3rd verification there is no power.

@aarons7975 Год назад

So you smugly think you are safe because you are only touching one wire, only to find out there's a wiring fault and you just gave the circuit it's ground. Don't be touching wires unless you want to get shocked ESPECIALLY if you are there working on it, because something is not right with it!

@OneIdeaTooMany 8 месяцев назад

This kinda reminds me of the "cell phones cause explosions at the pump" belief.... Yes it's possible but under very specific circumstances.

@tomTom-lb5cu Год назад

Years ago when I knew absolutely nothing bout electric and I wanted to do something in a junction box under my craw space and for some reasons wasn’t turning off power because, an electrician from work told me exactly what you have said. Just use one hand and you won’t get a shock, well in the crawl space was a copper water pipe, needless to say my ONE HAND was touching the live hot wire and that bare forearm squeezing between the copper pipes touched that and that was that. I shut the power off after that, and probably had no idea why that happened at the time. Your an excellent teacher btw. Thank you always

@tmyls8816 Год назад

Ive had electricity shock me from my leather gloves being wet from sweat before. Lightly because both time i didnt notice i dont think but then it felt like bugs crawling up my arm and then at some point i understood i was getting hit. Also once on a instahot a wet spot on the ground through my arm to my knee before some journeyman wanted to be funny and turn the ciruit back on because id never been shocked and i was 5yrs into it and he wanted to make it happen 😮. Funny 😂 now but then 🤬! Talking of ways to get shocked

@MandrewP 9 месяцев назад

As soon as you disconnect a neutral wire it becomes a hot wire in sheep's clothing! The same thing CAN happen with a GEC wire if it has objectionable current on it and is disconnected at a particular point.

@arazusaysbah6784 Год назад

At 1:00 you are completely wrong. The hot wire in your example will shock you. The loop is through you, across the ground, up the ground rod to the source. You even mentioned this later in the video with your light pole example. If you don't believe me tail out a hot wire, stand there, and touch it.

@james5118 Год назад

1:04 -- umm are you kidding? it will always want to travel back to the source (transformer, which is grounded) so you would get shocked as the path is ground through your body

@_TMac_13_916_ Год назад

I had a guy I was working with about 20 years ago when I was still pretty green take apart a hot neutral on a 277v lighting circuit and try to tell me to not worry about a neutral because it would not shock anybody. Then he got lit up when he grabbed the wire. To say the least, it was a learning experience for the both of us. Lol

@martyarial415 Год назад

What is the best thing to do after u get shocked I’ve seen people freak out and panic not sure if there is a proper procedure

@Ephesians-ts8ze Год назад

If any of the current goes through your heart I believe they typically wanna keep you at the ER for 24 hours to monitor your heart. People have been hung up, broke loose, shook it off and went about their day only to drop dead of a heart attack later on because of their heart being out of rhythm

@ecospider5 Год назад

Re start the heart is number 1. If a heart is stopped by lightning or electric shock it is the rare instance that you might get the heart to restart without the paddles. Keep doing cpr until the ambulance arrives. Step 2 is look for burns and treat them. If there are burn marks really far apart, like a hand and a knee, their might be internal burns so call 911. If it is from your hand to your elbow still see a doctor but the damage is contained in that forearm.

@RJFerret Год назад

When I got shocked the guy I was working with made me stop pacing and looked at my hands for burns, adrenalin will be through the ROOF so having others with clear heads check for stuff like that is critical.

@asamitchell7948 Год назад

You can be shocked by the neutral. You body creats the path to earth neutral and earth's are tapped together at the transformer. If you were to say take a lighting circuit. Turn every lamp on. And disconnect the neutral at the panel and you touch the neutral without touching the panel just standing on ground you can get some voltage and low current flow.

@IAmThe_RA Год назад

A broken neutral is not neutral. Just a wire.

@thaddeuscellak5616 8 месяцев назад

If you are in contact with a hot and grounded (no insulated shoes), would you not complete the circuit? At 1:15, you say touching the hot that the current will not flow to the neutral. But if you are grounded = bad day!

@reallunacy Год назад

Always remember some places you go to aren't wired correctly. I've gotten shocked touching a ceiling grid, my other hand was on my ladder not. ...in the last week.

@RickHenkle 8 месяцев назад

I was shocked many times by the shared neutral problem in my youth.. At that time, it was code ok to do that.. I learned real quick to test any other neutrals connected..

@robbehr8806 Год назад

Alternating current can " capacitively couple" through an insulator. That is one of the functional characteristic of a capacitor. That's also why some LED lights will slightly glow in the dark -- the switch does a small amount of capacitive coupling. That said, the coupling can be negligibly small for practical purposes. Switches and circuit breakers are designed to have negligible capacitance.

@tommywatterson5276 4 месяца назад

Yes. You can get shocked on a neutral that has opened being serviced by a hot that is closed. Especially if the neutral isn't bonded to ground service at panels

@blairs6664 Год назад

Lol just ask a commercial guy about the 277 neutral, you'll immediately be convinced a neutral can light your world up

@Squat5000 Год назад

Hell yes you can get bit by the neutral and it hurts the worst in my experience Especially with a lot of caps on the load Not because of touching just the neutral but like you said, whatever other grounded thing you're touching.

@benloomis5357 Год назад

Will you be shocked by a neutral if you touch two points in series on an un broken neutral? Your example seems to only show if those neutral wires were not connected. I suppose this is the same question if it was a phase a to a or b to b. There is no difference in potential so I am having difficulty understanding if current on can shock without a voltage difference between two points.

@srmghd9414 Год назад

Why do we find houses or apartments that do not have the ground cable or the equipment ground cable? Are our teams safe in these facilities? Why does it come without ground fault installation?

@JT_2024-c8j 4 месяца назад

Even worse if the neutral is from one leg of a transformer based power supply or a motor winding. At least a light bulb has some resistance.

@bc1173 Год назад

dangerous answer given to people who don't work with electrical for a living. the answer is yes, be careful when dealing with live electrical equipment and wires.

@Frawzen480 9 месяцев назад

my thing I don't get with neutrals given the diagram at 4:11 - How is there a voltage difference between top black - low white on left of the bulb, but none between the high and low whites on the right of the bulb?

@rogeliomagana8400 3 месяца назад

Neutral hurts the most because it drags you in. But it all matters on if you grabbing the wires or either touching something with the rest of your body

@pontiaco 4 месяца назад

Volt meter shows 120v hot to ground, but no voltage hot to neutral, what can it be? Neutral wire looks burned

@tylerselby240 Год назад

Got shocked holding 3 neutrals in one hand but it hit multiple points some one ran another circuit through a light and it was still hot. My mistake should have tested it all but I trusted someone else to say power was off while I was at the breaker.

@boneheded2819 Месяц назад

I just got the shit knocked out of me from a neutral a couple of days ago. Yes. Yes you can.

@hliz8818 Год назад

Shared neutrals between 2 separate circuits.. neutral can shock you... if there is a load on separate circuit and your kneeling on ground you will get hit