I know that in electrical grid, Neutral wire is a non current carrying conductors so its cross section area is smaller than the cross section area of the live conductors. I think it has half of size of the live conductor.
Is this rule valid for a department or a small home that uses 1 phase only? If I'm buying the neutral cable for a home, Should it be less that or equal live wire ?
My country does not have grounding system. The wall outlets have two ports only (220V / 50Hz). But the neutral of distribution transformers is grounded.
Thank you,
Best Answer
In the US, home electrical power is actually delivered in the form of 240 VAC center-tapped, with the center the neutral, and 2 hot lines at 120 VAC each, but 180 degrees out of phase. The current in the neutral will depend on the load balance of the various power circuits connected to the two hot lines. There is nothing preventing all of the loads on one hot line being active, while none of the loads to the other hot line being connected. In this case, the neutral current will equal the hot current. For instance,
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab