electrical polarities

[excalibur]

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Hey ,is someone can tell me inverse electrical polarities in electrical outlet represent a significant danger for the occupants or dose it affect the integrity of the performance of any circuits or something else ? Thanks for now !

[hausdok]

Hi,

Reversed polarity means that power is flowing through the item being powered before it reaches the on-off switch. So, when you turn the switch off and think the unit isn't charged, it is.

An over-simplified scenario - The lights over the mirror in your bathroom aren't bright enough and you decide to change the bulbs. You turn the light off at the switch and are standing there on the wet bathroom floor removing the bulbs one-by-one and installing new ones, when suddenly you happen to touch the outer bulb socket rim and are electrocuted and left there dead on the floor. Why? Because the lights over the mirror were wired with the polarity reversed. As soon as you touched the socket rim, which you thought was de-energized because you'd turned off power to the lights at the switch, your finger touching that energized socket ring and your bare feet on the damp floor provided a ground path and electricity took a short cut through your body back to earth. You're dead - all because someone carelessly reversed two wires.

Kewl, huh?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Richard Moore]

Mike saved me the words while I was creating this crude diagram...

Another example would be a toaster, where you could still get shocked from "sticking a fork in it" even though it was "off".

[excalibur]

Thanks , y'all i'll note that down .

[Jim Katen]

In addition to Mike & Richard's explanations, reversed polarity can leave certain appliances exposed to voltage spikes and surges even when they're turned off.

I tell people that electrical safety comes in layers. When you've got a circuit with reversed polarity, one of those layers is gone.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[paul burrell]

Originally posted by excalibur

Thanks , y'all i'll note that down .

"Y'all" is a southern term (dialect). Just wondering how it got to Canada.

Paul Burrell

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by paul burrell

Originally posted by excalibur

Thanks , y'all i'll note that down .

"Y'all" is a southern term (dialect). Just wondering how it got to Canada.

Paul Burrell

I'm guessing that Ron White videos have something to do with it.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Brian G]

For the record, "Yall" as used and practiced by Southerners is not a contraction, it's a word all its own (like aint). They were once, but that was many decades ago. [:-graduat

Brian G.

Etspert on Such & Like Thangs [^]

[paul burrell]

Originally posted by Brian G.

For the record, "Yall" as used and practiced by Southerners is not a contraction, it's a word all its own (like aint). They were once, but that was many decades ago. [:-graduat

Brian G.

Etspert on Such & Like Thangs [^]

[/quote

The old south has indeed disappeared in to the past. We have been over run by those that in the past made fun of us and our life style. Then all of a sudden the word got out or the cat got out of the bag so to speak that the south was the place to be. Now foreigners out number native southerners by far.

Awrite now, you all come see us ya heah.[^]

Paul Burrell

[Scottpat]

I think it all started with Andy Griffith! Yall come back now hear!

[homnspector]

You sure that wasn't Beverly Hillbillies?

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by paul burrell

. . . Now foreigners out number native southerners by far. . .

Paul Burrell

Paradoxically, I think that's true pretty much everywhere in the U.S.

- Jim

[excalibur]

my wife is from Texas thanks guys ...and she is saying hello to y'all

[Brian G]

Strangely enough, my wife is from Illinois. I just tell people she's from SOUTHERN Illinois. []

Brian G.

Momma Started Talking to Me Again After the Baby Came... [][:-dev3][]

[paul burrell]

Originally posted by Brian G.

Strangely enough, my wife is from Illinois. I just tell people she's from SOUTHERN Illinois. []

Brian G.

Momma Started Talking to Me Again After the Baby Came... [][:-dev3][]

My son is married to a jewel of a Lady from New York. My Daughter "was" married to a jerk from Florida. I once dated a nice Lady from Northern Illinois. My wife was born and raised in California. I was born and raised in Georgia. So what does this mean? Maybe it means I started a mess [^].

Paul Burrell

PS:

A while back someone asked everyone that has not to send a picture. So here it is.

Download Attachment: PAUL BURRELL.jpg

457.68 KB

[excalibur]

Talking about mess... i'm from Montreal , i met my wife in Cancun Mexico,she's from Texas Fort Worth and we now stay in Quebec. It's a pretty nice mess though ... [:-cowboy]

[mcramer]

Originally posted by excalibur

my wife is from Texas thanks guys ...and she is saying hello to y'all

If you wife was really speaking, she would be saying hello to all y'all, not y'all. That's the singular form.

[excalibur]

something like that Mark[:-wiltel]

[Trailblazer]

All of those posts have been good. But for those of you who work on higher voltage systems there is the further danger of arc flash. Do a Google search for arc flash and corect your habits NOW. Square D, Littlefuse, Bussman, OSHA.gov, NEMA.org and others all have papers some have calculators.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Trailblazer

All of those posts have been good. But for those of you who work on higher voltage systems there is the further danger of arc flash. Do a Google search for arc flash and corect your habits NOW. Square D, Littlefuse, Bussman, OSHA.gov, NEMA.org and others all have papers some have calculators.

OK, I'll bite.

What's the relationship between reversed polarity and the danger of arc flash?

- Jim Katen, Oregon