Domestic Electricity

Introduction
The electricity supplied to our homes is a.c. It is nominally 230 volts and has a frequency of
50Hz. The voltage and frequency can change slightly throughout the day as demand
changes.

Distribution
The Live and Neutral wires come into the
house and are immediately connected to a
main fuse (100A, shown as the black box)
which the consumer can not access - this fuse
for the whole house prevents the user
damaging or short circuiting the mains supply.
The mains supply then goes to the electricity
meter via the thick grey wires shown in the
picture. The electricity meter measures the
amount of electricity (electrical energy) being
used in units of kiloWatt hours (kWh). In this
example the Live and Neutral come from
underground in an armoured cable, the
armouring around the main cables provides a
good earth point (just visible). In many houses
the Earth wire is attached to a large metal
spike buried in the ground. From the electricity meter, more thick grey wires carry electrical
current to the consumer unit.

From the consumer unit there are separate circuits for plug sockets, lights, electric
immersion heaters, electric showers, electric cookers and out buildings etc. These circuits
are arranged as ring mains - the cable runs around the house to each individual component
on the ring main and then back to the consumer unit. Each different ring is protected by a
fuse or circuit breaker. Different ring mains require different size fuses / circuit breakers. The
ring main for the domestic plug sockets will usually have a 32 Amp fuse per ring and
whereas the lighting circuit will only have a 5 or 6 Amp fuse per ring. Powerful appliances
that require a lot of current have their own separate circuit - these might include electric
cookers, electric showers and electric water heaters.
The main Live and Neutral supply coming from the electricity meter go directly to the
Residual Current Circuit Breaker (shown on the right) before the Live supply is distributed via
circuit breakers to each of the individual ring mains and other circuits. The Neutral wires are
all connected together to a 'bus bar' on the left hand side of the unit and the Earth wires are
all connected together at the top of the consumer unit. Notice how the live terminals are still
covered when the consumer unit has the cover removed whereas the Neutral and Earth
connections are both exposed - this is because the Neutral and Earth wires are both
essentially at zero volts and so pose little risk of an electric shock.
Earth Circuit
The Earth wire and the fuse together provide protection against the risk of an electric shock
when a domestic appliance develops a fault. The fuse also protects against excess current
causing a fire. The Earth circuit video shows the three situations in detail - follow Video link
at the top of the page.

The circuit is working properly, there is no fault.

Current flows in the Live and Neutral wires -
the element glows. No current flows in the
Earth wire, the person is not electrocuted and
the fuse doesn’t blow.

The circuit has a fault. The Live wire is

touching the metal kettle and the person will
receive an electric shock. However, a large
current now flows along the Earth wire. This
current is enough to blow the fuse and
disconnect the electrical supply.

The circuit has a fault and no Earth wire. The

Live wire is connected to the metal case of the
kettle and the user will get an electric shock.
The small extra current through the person is
not enough to blow the fuse. The kettle
remains connected to the electrical supply and
is a danger to the user.
Plugs
The standard domestic plug is shown in the diagram.

The LIVE wire is BROWN

The NEUTRAL wire is BLUE
The EARTH wire is YELLOW & GREEN stripes
The FUSE is in the Live wire
Cord grip prevents the cable being pulled out of the plug
The plug can not be used with the top removed because all the
pins fall out if you try to plug it in

There are a few extra safety features visible in this picture of a standard plug.

The Earth pin is the longest so that it goes in first and comes
out last.

The Earth pin opens the shutters in the socket that protect the
Live and Neutral connections.

The Live and Neutral pins have tape around them so that little
fingers can’t make contact when you pull the plug out –
children tend to wrap their fingers behind the plug to pull.

Fuses
A fuse is a thin piece of wire included in a circuit. The
material from which the fuse wire is made usually has a
lower melting point and a slightly higher resistance than
the other wires in the circuit. If too much current flows in
the circuit, the fuse wire will get hot (due to its higher
resistance) and melt (due to its lower melting point)
before any of the other wires get hot. Once the fuse
melts, the circuit is broken and no more current flows.

Domestic fuses are rated at 3A, 5A and 13A for use in plugs and 6A, 16A, 32A, 40A for use
in consumer units. Many appliances, such as TVs etc, also contain internal fuses with an
even lower current rating.

Left: 13A, 5A and 3A domestic fuses found in plugs

Right: fuses found inside appliances – the small ones are 500 mA
Bottom: Automobile fuses, sometimes called blade fuses. These come in multiples of 5A –
the yellow ones are 20A
Circuit Breakers
A circuit breaker does the same job as a fuse, it
breaks the circuit if too much current flows. A
circuit breaker is an electro-mechanical device
which means it uses an electromagnet to move a
mechanical switch when the current is too high.

The advantages of a circuit breaker are:

● They disconnect the circuit quickly, faster than a fuse will blow
● They can be reset easily whereas a fuse has to be replaced
● They tend to be more accurate - a 5A circuit breaker will cut out at 5A whereas a 5A
fuse may conduct 6A or more without blowing

Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB)

If a fault occurs, or a person gets an electric shock, a small
amount of current flows from Live to Earth – this is the
residual current. The current in the Neutral wire is less than
the current in the Live wire. A Residual Current Circuit
Breaker (RCCB) detects the small difference in current in the
Live and Neutral and disconnects the electrical supply. An
RCCB is very fast, disconnecting the supply in just a few
milliseconds.

The device shown is also the main Circuit Breaker rated at

100A total for the whole house. The residual trip current is
shown as 0.03A (30mA). The blue test button allows the
device to be tested, it is a good idea to test the RCCB every
few months or so.
Double Insulation
Not all appliances need an Earth wire.
If there are no exposed metal parts
then there is no risk of the appliance
being live in the event of a fault.

Such appliances are called “Double

Insulated” because there are two
layers of insulation – one around the
wire, the other around the case itself.

The picture shows an example of a double insulated power supply. Note the plastic Earth
pin, it is still necessary to open the shutters in the socket.

Double Insulation Symbol which represents the two separate layers of

insulation rendering the Earth wire unnecessary. Double insulated often still
have a fuse to prevent excess current causing a fire.

Website
http://www.pfnicholls.com/Electronics/domestic.html

© Paul Nicholls

July 2020

Electronics Resources by Paul Nicholls is licensed under a​ ​Creative Commons Attribution

4.0 International License​.