DIYbanter - View Single Post

In article .com, wrote:
Long time lurker, first time poster here.

Doug, I've watched you give out crappy electrical advice for quite some
time, and I think it's time I give you a little schoolin'.

You obviously have me confused with Toller -- and you should school yourself
first before you try to school me.

First of all, TomH's post was pretty much spot on. So your bit about
"not correct in any respect" is horse hockey.

No, it wasn't, and if you knew anything about wiring you would have seen the
same errors I did.

You haven't done much wiring, have you? In a perfect world, the three
wires are black, red, and g/b. How often do you think that happens?
All the time? Most of the time? SOME of the time?

It's pretty clear that you haven't done *any* wiring -- you haven't any idea
what the colors are in a normal cable.

I've run into situations contstantly where you get black, red, and
white.

Didn't read my post too carefully, did you? I never said you couldn't have
black, red, and white -- just that you wouldn't have *only* black, red, and
white, without having a grounding conductor as well.

Hell, I just bought some 12/3 that had black, white, and green.

No, you didn't. You bought 12/2 with ground.

Only a fool relies on wire colors to tell him what that load that wire
carries or doesn't carry.

Nobody's talking about load here...

White gets used for ground all the freakin' time...especially in the
situation TomH describes.

Doing so is a Code violation.

Granted, in the electrical codes, white
SHOULD be neutral, and G/B SHOULD be ground.

Wrong. In the NEC, white MUST be neutral, and green/bare MUST be ground. They
are flatly prohibited from being used for anything else.

But if you got a
red/black/white, would you suggest hooking a different color to the
ground? Honestly...would you?

Yes, I would. I'd suggest attaching the green or bare wire that is *also*
present to the ground.

The bottom line is that you can get a multi-meter for $14 at a hardware
store. If you know how to use it, do so. If you don't, get a damn
electrician to hook you up.

Sounds like you should be calling the electrician before you touch anything.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.