ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Scared the %^$& out of me!

Looks as though it could have been nasty.

The red/yellow/blue markers on the cables look interesting. Any particular reason for these colors being used? (They happen to be the standard British phase colors!)

a unsafe situation indeed. i've often wondered if this would be a listing violation, i have the 'General Info for Electrical Eqyuip 2001 ULpub', but am not that savey with it....

paul-
probably 208/120Y , usually red-black-blue here, but as the wires black , yellow was used....

I would have wet my overalls, after I opened the door. I'd still be shaking.

to answer the question of the phasing, yes this is a british phasing system used by the utility company. These photos were taken while working on Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Thanks. I've often looked at the listed systems used by places like Bermuda, the Bahamas and so on where they use 120V for small appliances and wondered whether they follow standard American practice in their distribution, color codes, circuit arrangements, etc.

If you have any more info on how things differ in the islands, perhaps it would make an interesting thread? (Subtle hint... )

Pauluk:
Some info on Bahamas. They adopt a 120/208 480/277 style. They predominently use the Canadian Electrical code with some little qwirks of their own. It is a 60 hz system delivered by 2 huge diesel generators located in Nassau. Power outages are not uncommon but all major resorts have an extensive backup systems. Aside from the British phasing system of the utility they use Black,Red,Blue and Brown,Orange,Yellow.(yes Black,Red,Blue..weird huh?) Maintence is very important there. The Salt air eats and corrodes EVERYTHING! I wonder if Florida is the same way. PVC is very popular. Skill level of local electricians is...uh..SCARY.

I'm on the English coast, and we have a similar problem with the salty atmosphere, although without the humidity. (And the temperatures are much lower, too .)

If the utility uses British phase colors, do they stick with American white/gray neutral, or do they use the British black for neutral? If the latter, I reckon it could get rather confusing where it changes to the other system!

Although it won't help pinched insulation, above 600V, using one, two and three white bands is fairly unambiguous. Had an unbelievably cheap outfit that used 1-2-0 bands alternated with 0-1-2 bands. Two different foremen had a tiff and wouldn't talk to each other. It took ~6 months for the plant electricians to figure out what had happened. Rolled phases don’t work too well on double-ended unit substations.

Getting back to the original question: Does it seem to you that little or no attention is given by manufacturers as to where the wires will go? Isn't it almost routine to find neutral and ground bard buried under the hot wires? So many disconnects that are capable of taking 100 amp fuses are not able to handle #2 wire.