Neutral Wire in Kal's Setup is 14AWG

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Chugmaster

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Can someone please explain why the neutral wires contained in Kal's setup are all 14AWG? Should the ones running the elements and running to the first relay not be 10AWG like the hots?

power.jpg
 
I think their idea is that the neutral doesn't get much current load. i.e. it looks like it is just powering the 120V power light and the coil. So that's maybe a couple amps. Still personally I would at least run #10 from the power in plug to the neutral bus though.
 
I've read that pure 240V does not actually require a neutral wire and the neutral in a dryer outlet is only there for the 120V applications such as the digital display. Am I correct by saying this? Now that I look at Kal's setup, it doesn't look like the elements are actually hooked up to the neutral bus.
 
Right the elements are not connected to neutral, but that design is most certainly drawing 120VAC control power using the neutral (to power the light and relay coil).
 
But because there is a 7amp fuse on the hot bus, there's no way that the neutral will ever exceed 7amps.

Here's the schematic of the element wiring.

Note that the neutral controls the switch in the relay and is not tied to the elements.

elements.jpg
 
I've read that pure 240V does not actually require a neutral wire and the neutral in a dryer outlet is only there for the 120V applications such as the digital display. Am I correct by saying this? Now that I look at Kal's setup, it doesn't look like the elements are actually hooked up to the neutral bus.

There is really no reason to send neutral to a 240v element in any case that I know.
 
Provided all line to neutral loads are fed off 'hot bus A' that is true. If someone later buggers on somewhere upstream of the fuse and returns to the neutral it could be higher. Might want to look at one of the later step diagrams, since that one doesn't show hot bus B yet.
 
The only time you would connect neutral to an element would be if it were a 120V element. For a 240V element, it's going to get two hots and hopefully a ground. (For a normal 240V/120V system).
 
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