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What is single and three phase supply and what happens when neutral of your supply
disconnects?
Mahesh Kumar Jain (mod) July 30, 2020 49 Comments Ask A Question

You had either observed or heard from others about the high or low voltage supply problem at one’s house. The doubt, most of the time, goes to the poor
quality of supply voltage or voltage surge. But there is another reason also and, i.e. ‘Neutral Disconnect’. In this post, we will examine how neutral
disconnect and its location affects your power supply performance.

The power supply to your house is either single-phase, i.e. 2-wire with phase and
Table of Contents
neutral or 4-wire with 3 phase and neutral. Read more on single and 1 - What is a neutral Terminal?
three-phase supply. A power supply is distributed in parallel to the various 2 - What is Neutral Disconnection?
house either single-phase or three-phase supply system depending on the 2.1 - At the transformer
sanctioned load. The transformer at the substation is delta-star connected wherein
2.2 - At your house
the input is 3-wire 3 phase, and the output of the transformer is 4-wire 3 phase.
2.3 - At the house with single-phase connection
Depending on the load, the power company sanctions either single or three-phase
2.4 - Neutral disconnect but touches the ground
supply to your house. When it is a single-phase, alternately the power is distributed
3 - How often it happens?
from the R, Y and B phase so that the load on the system is balanced.
4 - What is the solution?

What is a neutral Terminal?

The neutral connection is taken out from the transformer by which one gets the supply between phase and neutral as 240V. This neutral wire is earthed at
the transformer itself and run as insulated wire to the house. The earthing of the neutral terminal keeps the neutral tied at earth potential. It helps in
maintaining the phase potential at 240 V minus a few volts towards voltage drop. Due to unbalance of load, some current always flows through the neutral
wire back to the system. Remember that the neutral is only earthed at the transformer and not at the load, i.e. house. One should not earth the neutral at
his house. In that case, part of the current may flow to the source though earth with some power loss.
What is Neutral Disconnection?
Neutral disconnection is similar to phase disconnection. If the phase supply is disconnected, you don’t get power in your house in that phase and no
damage done. Now imagine neutral disconnects at the scenario given below and how the voltage behaves at the terminal of various phases.

At the transformer
The transformer is feeding load in all the three-phase, and distribution is such that load is balanced within plus/minus 5-15%. Due to the disconnection of
neutral at the transformer, its potential will be floating depending on the load unbalance. Now if the load unbalance is significant say plus-minus 15%, the
phase having a low load, the voltage will go high and the electronic equipment provided in that phase may burn and reduce the load further any may start a
domino effect. In the meantime, phase having high load will experience low voltage but will not cause any
damage to electronics/light/fan. But it may damage the motor-operated equipment, and it catches smoke or
flames, will reduce the load in that phase or isolated due to protection of stabiliser action. In any case, the load
is reduced, and voltage going high. The neutral may now shift to stability, and the sequence of damages to the
equipment may stop.

It is how it explains the complaints about damaging of equipment in the society and every apartment/house
experience this problem.

At your house
The load unbalance will be significant, and the voltage unbalance will also be high. There is a likelihood of substantial damage to the electronic equipment
in lines with the phenomenon explained above.

At the house with single-phase connection

Since the neutral is disconnected, there will not be any power supply in the house. You will search for the MCB or RCCB, but no tripping and then what?
The natural disconnect will result in phase voltage appearing at the neutral terminal. It can be detected by checking with the tester only. Make sure this
testing is done with the help of an electrician.

Neutral disconnect but touches the ground

Ah! It is the safest mode of disconnect when neutral disconnect and touched the ground. Now the return current flows back to source through the earth.
The potential of neutral does not shift much and no damage to any equipment.
How often it happens?
With overhead LT distribution network, this can be a common phenomenon during storms and particularly in villages with improper maintenance of neutral
conductor. This is one of the reasons that the villagers will use earth as the return conductor instead neutral because there is no reliability of the overhead
wires. In early days, overhead LT distribution was widespread in cities, but at that time electronic or motor-driven appliances were also not very common in
the houses and not much of a complaint. With LT distribution by a cable network, there is very unlikelihood of such incidences except when there is
maintenance lapse.

What is the solution?

As of now, there is no standard product marketed by any of the switchgear company. MCB will not work since the current will not go very high and RCCB
will also not function since there is no leakage of current. One can think of homemade arrangement providing a three-pole 63A power contactor after
incoming MCBs with the coil connected to phase and another to the neutral busbar at the distribution box. When neutral is disconnected, the coil will not
get the supply and trip the contactor. A hand-drawn circuit is given below. A 63A TPN incoming is shown but one shall have a solid neutral connection.

About the Author:

Mr Mahesh Kumar Jain is an Alumnus of the University of Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) with a degree in Electrical Engineering who has spent 36
years serving the Indian Railways. He retired from Indian Railways as a Director of IREEN (Indian Railways Institute of Electrical Engineering) and
has also served as Principal Chief Electrical Engineer at many Railways. He has performed the responsibility of working as Electrical Inspector to
Govt. of India. Mr Mahesh Kumar Jain is having a passion for electrical safety, fire, reliability, electrical energy
consumption/conservation/management, electrical appliances. He currently serves as a consultant at Nippon Koi Consortium in the field of power
distribution and electric locomotive. More from this author.
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49 comments Sort: by Newest

1 # 10:35 am September 22, 2021

SHANKAR V NARAYANAN
I have moved to a new house in Coimbatore where there is a provision for 3 phase connection but the builder is
providing only Single phase connection from EB. My contractor tells me that if you have only Single you cannot run 2
ACs at the same time. Please let me know if this is true and also I can and should insist on getting 3 phase
connection. Thanks and regards - Narayanan

Reply " Share

# 11:10 am September 22, 2021

2
Abhishek Jain (Mod)
Home appliances are not 3 phase devices. This means all home appliances run on a single phase. Even
when you get a 3 phase connection, you divide the three phases equally in your house such that each
part of your house is on one of the phases. So it is not necessary that you need a 3 phase connection to
run ACs. What is important is that you have the ideal sanctioned load from your electricity distribution
company. Typically utilities give sanctioned load up to 7.5 kW in a single phase. A typical 2 ton AC is 2
kW, 1.5 ton AC is 1.5 kW and 1 ton Ac is 1 kW load. Now if you have two 1.5 ton ACs, then the total load
of the two would not exceed 3 kW. Add the wattages of other appliances in your house and it will be hard
to exceed 7.5 kW. So I think a single phase should work for you, but make sure that you get the right
sanctioned load for your house.

Also, the sanctioned load does not always mean the sum of wattages of all the appliances in your house.
It should ideally be equal to the peak wattage that is being used at any given time. Please note that
geysers can be of 2 kW or 3 kW. But you may not use a geyser when you may use an AC. So
Sanctioned load has to be applied accordingly.

Reply " Share

3 # 10:49 am September 16, 2021

Bhanwar Singh
Neutral to earth voltage limit as per standard ??

Reply " Share

4 # 1:35 pm September 17, 2021

Abhishek Jain (Mod)

Ideally it should be 0 Volt.

Reply " Share

 # 2:00 pm September 14, 2021
5
Apurba Biswas
In case of 3 phase domestic meter in my house can I cunnect the neutral to the saperate ground other then my
earthing connection. Please advice.

Reply " Share

6 # 2:34 pm August 20, 2021

Ravi Prakash
Dear Sir,
Your article is well articulated n precise .
I have a problem at my factory and will deeply appreciate your advice / solutions.

In the recent 4 to 5 months , we have had almost 6 burn outs where all my electronic meters / controllers / display
units have burned out .
The problem is as follows - ours is LT connection of 60hp frm the govt connection ( bescom). Usually there is power
failure with a bang sound on the transformer near by .
And when the power resumes later , there is sudden spike in the neutral , and there is return power I assume . All the
single phase instruments connected burn out . And the neutral subsides and when we check later there is no voltage
in that and everything is normal . Inspite of having MCBs and fuses ,the equipment is burned out . We have
complained to the authorities and they say everything is normal from their end. Our ground connection is intact and
well connected .
This has become a perineal problem and constant expense incurred . Beyond that the process which is midway gets
effected . I would deeply appreciate if a solution or a mechanism of protection is suggested to avoid the above
problem . Thanking you .
Regards, Ravi.
My ph - 9886871726

Reply " Share

# 3:17 pm August 21, 2021

7
Abhishek Jain (Mod)
Have you tried surge protection devices, something like this:
https://www.havells.com/en/consumer/switchgear/surge-protection-device/surge-protection-
device.html#gref ? You may have to work with your electrician to find out the right one.

Also, is it possible to disconnect (from mainline) or switch off the instruments in case of a power cut so
that they are protected by sudden spikes? You can reconnect or switch them on after a few minutes
when the power is back.

Reply " Share

8 # 8:07 am August 11, 2021

rajesh
Excellent article.. i couldn't understand the drawing though:(

not from engineering background but i made sure earthing was done in our home long back when i realized its
importance

i stumbled upon this piece on internet 'bonding earth to neutral' and its driving me crazy

below in the comments Mr. Rajendran also said he looped earth to neutral at service panel

except the articles referring to US and EU elect.code regarding the 'bonding' i couldn't find any Indians telling us how
& why to do it

so this is my cry for help :)

from what i understand, 'bonding earth to neutral' gives us more safety

unbonded earthing gives safe return path for hot appliances but we're not protected if earthing breaks.
bonding will let circuit breaker sense the current in neutral line and cuts off the supply until we remove the faulty
applianc

* is that the only advantage?

* if its such a great feature, why not more people doing it in India?

* any disadvantages here?

* anyone pls explain how we do it in layman terms and a pencil drawing if possible
 thanks,

Reply " Share

9 # 12:54 pm August 11, 2021

rajesh
hi it's me again. I read somewhere saying India has TT type distribution and here we're not allowed to
bond earth with neutral...
Only option we get from hot gadgets is installing 30mA RCD

Reply " Share

10 # 8:50 am August 11, 2021

rajesh
* isn't it dangerous if neutral breaks when 'bonded'
wouldn't the current flow through earth in absence of neutral?

Reply " Share

# 8:08 pm June 20, 2021

11
Subash
Hi,
I have a Single phase connection.
My wire coming from Meter to MCB in House Panel was of Aluminum 10mm. But it broke from the middle due to
nearby construction.
Electricity department just joined it manually.
I am thinking to install Copper wire after meter to House Panel.
I have consulted with many electricians but have not gotten any satisfactory response.
Please Suggest which size of Copper wire (with cores) is recommended for Single Phase Connection.
Heavy Appliances in Home are 2 Ton AC, 3KVA Geyser, 1.5 HP Motor.

Please suggest

Thanks

Reply " Share

# 10:03 pm June 3, 2021

12
Rahul
What is the impact of higher neutral current (almost 9A) than phase ( 5A) on the electricity bill.. and what should be
done to rectify this

Reply " Share

# 3:33 pm June 8, 2021

13
Abhishek Jain (Mod)
Hi Rahul,

High neutral current is an indicator of unbalanced load across the three phases. Do you have a single-
phase connection or 3 phase one? The unbalanced load will result in high or low voltage which can
damaged appliances. Do you experience high or low voltages?

Reply " Share

# 7:55 am June 3, 2021

14
Rajendran
I feel we should change the return wire concept at least when electrical distribution is discussed. Infact because of
this notion, the distribution company carries one more conductor from their distribution transformer to the consumers.
If we think it only sourse and sink, then there is no need for return conductor to their transformer for the circuit to be
completed. Sink is is obtained combining the load and ground.
I have 3 phase connection. One day most of my appliances including induction cooker got damaged, as the neutral
input broken at te post. Since then internally I looped the N to ground. I am now tension free.
Rajendran.

Reply " Share

 # 12:22 pm September 8, 2021
15
Balaji
Dear Sir,

Pardon for my question if it is too naïve, I just wish to understand that : "When you mention the "Load +
Earth" as sink, does this mean the "return path" for the current is just the natural Earth from the Earthing
all the way to the Earthing at the Transformer / Substation ? "
In this question I am considering : " The Load(s) is (are) connected to a 'Single Phase' alone and the
return is through Earthing" - Kindly correct me here if I am wrong.

Thank you very much.

Reply " Share

# 2:40 pm March 26, 2021

16
Rohit
If 3 phase MCB is having Neutral current/ Voltage at input or at output. How much are the chances of MCB burnt or
MCB system failure. Please help me.

Reply " Share

# 6:59 pm March 28, 2021

17
Mahesh Kumar Jain (mod)
MCB should not have a neutral disconnect because we don't want any situation in which neutral
Author becomes disconnected.

Reply " Share

# 8:05 am June 3, 2021

18
Rajendran
In my house the input CB, though 4 pole, the neutral is not through, so they they have connected the
load neutral at the input of the CB.

Reply " Share

# 2:21 pm March 25, 2021

19
Aditya
Sir, excellent article. I do not belong to electrical background and would like to have your valuable advise on the
situation we are currently facing at my house.
House was built about 25years ago and all internal wiring is done in the flooring. Electricity is supplied through 3
metered connections, one for each floor. House is having approximately 20 split acs of approximately 2Tons each.
There is a MCB for each floor and a dedicated transformer for the load.
Now, since the past few weeks, there is constant fluctuations on just 1 floor. Our local electrician visited the site but
couldnt find any possible issues with connectors that may have triggered the fluctuations. The earth pits were newly
built a week before this started as the old pit had completely depleted. On that floor all AC units got damaged and
there PCB's were burnt, few lights got damaged and chargers of mobile phones that were connected to the sockets
got damaged.
Since, one new AC was installed which worked fine for a couple of days but then suddenly there was smoke coming
from that unit and upon diagnostics we realized that its PCB too got damaged.
Now, we are advised to setup 2 30KV stabilizers for the main 2 meters. Do you think, having those stabilizers will
solve the problem or there is something which is being missed and needs resolution for a permanent solution.

Reply " Share

# 7:30 am March 28, 2021

20
Mahesh Kumar Jain (mod)
Installing the voltage stabilizer may or may not solve the problem unless the cause is found and remedial
Author action is taken. The voltage stabilizer takes care of voltage fluctuations and the PCB of the AC shall not
get damaged due to voltage fluctuations. It is the voltage surges that are responsible for the damage of
the PCB or electronic circuit if such surges pass to the electronic circuit. The voltage or current surges
appear in the household supply if the source of power supply to the house is through the over head wire
where the lightning discharge is attracted to the overhead wire and enters into the house. If you install a
capacitor bank at the incoming, the surges may get discharged through the capacitor. I hope must have
installed a power factor correction panel to improve the power factor, if not check, what is the power
factor and provide the capacitor panel to improve the power factor, and these capacitors will help in
 smoothing the surges. Installing a voltage stabilizer without proper troubleshooting will add to your
capital bill as well the running cost of additional energy in the stabilizer which can go up to 2kW. I will
also suggest you search for the company that undertakes the complete power analysis of the company
and can evaluate the surges in the incoming supply r generated inside the load.
This is really a ticklish problem and help of experts in the field will be necessary.

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