I bet you cute standing correct Julie,lol. Sorry, just can't help myself,lol

 

I'm cute all the time! And don't you forget it mister!

Funny thing is, there are days I like to argue and people I like to argue with. Not today and not with B/B.

And I believe he is right, I've called the black wire the common wire for years because that is what I was taught. Plus if you look at the back of any three way switch and many plugs, it has the black screws or gold screws (that you attach the black power wire to) labelled as "Common." You start hooking the white wire up to those and your house wiring will be very confused.

I guess I could take a picture, but naaaahhhhh, it's house wiring - who cares - let's talk trucks.

 

Our electrical code still connects the neutral and grounds to the same buss bar. That's the way the electrician installed the panel in my garage two years ago (200A supply and meter seperate from the house). He did put in a grounding rod connected to the meter base since the garage does not have water.

 

Ax, we must have had the same builders, as my panel has a buss bar that connects the ground, and common. That's what I hooked my ground wire to, since they're the same, and plugged my two hots into the 40 amp circuit. Mine also has the grounding rod wired right there at the meter.

 

It sure wasn't my intent to argue with you Julie. You give out a lot of great information, and are much more articulate than I. It is just that I have been an Electrical Contractor for 30 years and was just trying to give some accurate info.

By the way, The terminal on the back of the switch marked "common" means that it is common to the other two terminals on a 3-way switch, meaning an oulet is controlled from two or more locations.

And now back to the trucks.

 

I didn't take it as a contradiction or anything like that. It's me who likes a good argument sometimes! I inherited that from my German Grandfather!

I appreciate being educated by good compotent and experienced folks like you as much as I enjoy passing on what I have learned. That's how we learn! I know that. And occasionally, like today, I realize that (yes it's true) I may have learned something wrong and done it wrong for many years until someone with the right expereince comes along and sets the record straight.

And see, I never knew that about the common on the switches either - now I know - but you gotta admit it does leave room for confusion.

When I bought my house in St Louis it was an electrical disaster. The white wires were carrying power, greens were used as travelers - what a mess. Over there, I had a metal "stake" stuck in the ground to provide an actual ground to the panel, and my bare copper grounds and white neutrals were all run to the same bus bar. Funny thing was though, I was also required to provide a heavy (6ga) bare copper ground from the conduit that housed the wires coming in off the pole - outside the house, to a second stake - lightning rod I think.

Last week when I put in my new 200 amp service panel on my new old ranch, the new panel had separate lug bars for neutral and ground. And the directions (yes I still read them) had me run a 6 ga bare copper to the nearest 3/4 inch cold water pipe or a stake for separate gounding. There was a separate lug for that on the cabinet back as well. So I guess the separate busses is a new thing - like three wire 220 volt (ok JOE 240V) plugs with neutral and ground now. This place is just old...no ground holes in the plugs, no ground wires, all the wire in conduit - 12 ga cloth covered, switches that click, you know!!

So anyway, thanks for teaching me a new thing today and fixing a wrong thing. And if you are ever planning on a trip to The San Diego area, feel free to stop on by (and bring the tool box - tee hee)