Neutral Fault Causes, Effects, Example, Explanation

Hey, in this article, we are going to discuss about the effects of neutral fault, it's causes, and Protection.

In case of three-phase power supply purpose, neutral helps to balance all three phases. In case of single-phase power supply purpose, neutral is used to complete the electrical circuit.

To get the 230V AC supply neutral is must be required. In the three-phase system, Star connection only provides a neutral point.

Both single-phase and three-phase power supply system will be affected if the neutral fault occurs.

Causes of Neutral Fault

In our house wiring purpose, only one neutral wire is taken as common for all loads. So live wires are separated for all individual loads but one neutral wire is common. If neutral wire has more thickness, then it will be damaged when all loads are turned on at the same time.

Neutral wire also be damaged by physical contact, long time used, etc.

The neutral wire of a distribution line may be damaged by the environmental causes.

Read Also: [Main] Difference Between Neutral and Earth Explained

Effects of Neutral Fault in Single Phase System

If the neutral fault occurs then the single-phase load will not work because of neutral wire complete the circuit in a single-phase system.

If RCCB is connected in a single-phase system, then it will be tripped when the neutral fault occurs.

In the above figure, you can see the neutral wire gets damaged. So in this case, we will get an electrical shock if we touch the neutral wire.

Read Also: [Know] Which RCCB should You use to Prevent Electrical Shock

Effects of Neutral Fault in Three Phase System

In a substation neutral is connected to the ground to make it zero potential and to balance all the three phases. If unequal loads are connected to all three phases then unequal current will flow through the three phases which makes the three-phase system unhealthy. But if the neutral is connected to the ground, the equal current will flow in all three phases even they are connected to unequal loads. So in this case, if the neutral fault occurs, the three-phase system will be unhealthy.

Sometimes, a very high voltage occurs in our home and damage our electrical devices. This happens only for the neutral fault.

Neutral Fault causes to occur surge voltage and unwanted high voltage at the load terminals.

Read Also: Main Difference Between Earthing and Grounding

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