No, you should not do this. Think of what would happen if someone wanted to work on that other circuit – they would flip the breaker and assume its off, yet there is still current on the neutral coming from another circuit!
Can I borrow a neutral from another circuit?
No, you can’t steal a neutral wire from another circuit. Each neutral wire is the return for the corresponding hot. If you “steal” a neutral from another circuit you run the risk of overloading that neutral wire (overheat, fire risk). Another issue might arise if the circuit later becomes a GFCI.
Can you share a neutral on 3 phase?
You can share a neutral between 2 phases of a 3 phase panel BUT! You have to count the neutral as a conductor for the purposes of article 310.15(B)(3)(a), which says if you have more than 3 conductors in a raceway you must de-rate the ampacity of the conductors.
Can I use a neutral from another panel?
As a practical matter, other than the potential hazard of a neutral in one panel remaining current carrying because it comes from another panel and circuit, the main show stopper would be if there were GFCIs involved. But going simply by Code text, it is prohibited.
Can you use the neutral as a switch leg?
Ordinary mechanical switches do not need a neutral, but only hots (line hot and switched hot). Nowadays the code requires a neutral in switch boxes even if it is not used in the original installation.
What is a borrowed neutral?
A borrowed neutral is when you have two seperate circuits but you have taken the neutral from one circuit to supply the other with a neutral.
Can you run a neutral wire by itself?
Running a neutral by itself from a different box is unsafe and not to code. Alternately you could run both power and neutral from outlet to switch, and then switched power and neutral to the light, and cap off the other wires in the light box.
Can you share neutrals on single phase?
In the US NEC you have to have a common trip on all hot wires sharing a single neutral. The reason behind this is that if you turn off a breaker for 1 hot to work on a part of the circuit, the neutral could still be carrying current from the other hots, which you did not turn off.
Why don’t you need a neutral on 3 phase?
In single-phase, loads the neutral wire provides the return path for the current, and in balanced 3 phase loads, because they satisfy the above criteria, the currents enter and return through lines creating 0A of out of balance current. So, there is no need for a neutral wire.
Does the neutral wire carry voltage?
Voltage is carried by the live conductor, but a neutral conductor is also necessary for two important functions: Serving as a zero voltage reference point.
How do you wire a neutral shared circuit?
Quote from the video:
Quote from Youtube video: Go out on the same phase. So say the black conductor is hooked up to a black phase and goes out to a plug and the red conductor is also hooked up to a black phase.
What happens if you wire live and neutral the wrong way?
Because when it’s the wrong way around, the device is energized (the internal wiring is at a voltage potential higher than 0). So if there’s a fault somewhere, you could potentially become a path to ground. Also in some older appliances, the grounded (neutral) conductor was bonded to the chassis of the device.
Why does my neutral wire have voltage?
The voltage you are seeing on the neutral wire is conducting through that other load from the hot. Your voltage tester is detecting voltage without drawing current so the resistance of the other load is not seen. Try disconnecting/turning off all other loads on that circuit.
Can two hot wires share a neutral?
What is a multiwire branch circuit? A multiwire branch circuit is a branch circuit with a shared neutral. This means there are two or more ungrounded (hot) phase or system conductors with a voltage between them and a shared neutral.
What happens if you have an open neutral?
When you have an open neutral at a particular device, there’s a disconnect in the white wire. Electricity can still flow to the device through the hot wire, but it can’t return to the panel. The device won’t work, but you can still get a shock from it because it’s energized.
Can an open neutral cause a fire?
When there’s a loose wire connection, the neutral wire becomes abnormally hot and damages appliances in their wake. Most fires related to an electrical fault have an open neutral to blame.
What happens if neutral wire is not connected?
If a neutral wire gets disconnected, then the appliances will not work, the fan may get burn, choke in the tube may burn, and current starts flowing through the neutral wire. If you insert the tester in the neutral point (socket) then it will indicate like a phase.
What happens if you don’t bond the neutral to ground?
If the ground is not bonded to neutral, then the entire ground circuit in the building becomes close to hot until the circuit breaker trips. Ground rods can have several ohms of resistance to ground, which is far too high to keep the ground to safe Voltage in such a situation.
