Reverse polarity

[Tom Downie]

In the UK. the neutral is bonded to earth so only one live which is switched if the polarity is correct.

The earth is bonded to the neutral in the installation not the appliance. in class 2 appliances the earth in the appliance does not exist. I think you will find that only in modern installations is the earth bonded to the neutral. there are still installations around that use an earth stake.

 

[Tom Downie]

It is all a bit strange but essentially yes.

To answer your question a bit further talking about the street supply set up then a typical supply to a house is just L and N there is no earth wire of any type seperate wire or sheath. The cable has a live core and an outer neutral..

As for the house supply Fuses are only installed in the Live. The neutrals are connected to a common neutral bar and the earths to a common earthing bar within the fuseboard

The houseLive supply is conected via the metering equipment and a supply fuse 80/100A to the incoming elecectricity company cable.

The neutral and earth conections from thier conection bars are then conected to the incoming supply company neutral via a conection which also connects to the incoming supply cable. The picture below also shows an earthing conection block but this then goes straight to the incoming supply neutral

3-phase supples are the same but with 3 L supplies.

See image below

View attachment 65429

Hope it helps in your understanding of how the UK does things

We do still have supplies with a seperate earth circuit and some where an earth is not provided at all,

Kind regards Pd

Depends on the installation.

 

[sidepod]

Electrical installations in caravan/camping parks, caravans and motor caravans

As the warmer weather approaches and with summer around the corner, thoughts turn to holidays. Chief Engineer Geoff Cronshaw reminds us of the requirements of BS 7671:2008+A3:2015.

electrical.theiet.org

 

[camperhov]

In Belgium, there are almost no houses with full 3x380V + N electricity.
Most only have 3x220V, or even 1x220V (make that 230V now).
This should mean that every house in the UK has what we call industrial electrical connection.

If the electricity from the 3x220V comes from a triangular connection, you don't even have the N line. This means that every line (phase) is live.
If you have electricity from a star connection (3x380V + N) then you have a neutral line.
View attachment 65386

Can you confirm that every house in the UK has 3x380V + N ?

Uk 3 phase is 415V and star connection on the assumption the red, yellow and blue loads are all balanced, so neutral should be 0V.

So each house gets one phase and neutral (415 / √3 = 240V).