3 proven methods for determining phase and zero without instruments

Method number 1 - Visual designation

The first and most reliable way to independently determine where the phase and zero without a tester is to inspect the color of the insulation of each conductor, on the basis of which to draw a conclusion.

The fact is that the color coding of the wires is just designed to make it possible without instruments to find out which of the veins is neutral and which phase. To help you understand the phase and zero correctly, we provide a table with existing standards:

As you can see, the insulation can be of different colors, so it's better to remember that 0 is always blue and the ground is yellow-green( or onlyyellow green).As a rule, the remaining third vein is the phase that you need to determine. If there is no color marking, which is no exception, it is possible to find the phase and zero without tools in other ways, which we considered below!

Method number 2 - Doing the control

The second idea is to determine without a tester, where the phase, and where the zero wire in the socket is that you need to make a test bulb from improvised means. It's very simple, you just need to find an incandescent lamp with a cartridge and two pieces of stranded wire, about 50 centimeters long.

The cores are connected to the corresponding connectors of the cartridge, one conductor is fixed to the cleaned metal pipe of the heating pipe, and the second one needs to "probe" the wires of interest to you. The light will come on if you touch the phase contact. So simple method you can quickly learn without instruments, where phase and zero.

We draw your attention to the fact that such a search without devices is dangerous and can cause electric shock. Be careful when determining the voltage and beware of touching the exposed strand with your hand!

If you do not have an incandescent lamp at hand, you can use a neon light bulb to assemble a homemade tester, which will also allow you to determine the polarity. The control scheme will look like this:

Method # 3 - Potatoes for help!

An amusing, but still effective idea, which allows you to determine the phase and zero without an indicator, a multimeter, or another tester. All you need is a kartoshina, 2 wires of 50 cm and a resistor of 1 MΩ.The voltage can be found by the method described above. The end of the first conductor is connected to the pipe, the second end is inserted into the potato slice, as shown in the photo. As for the second wire, one end of it should be inserted in the same section, at the maximum possible distance from the inserted core, and the second you will feel the leads on which you need to find the phase and zero without instruments. The definition is as follows:

• If a small amount of darkening formed on the cut is a phase conductor;
• No reaction occurred - you "groped" for zero.

It should be noted immediately that, in this case, the determination should take place with a slight delay in the contact of the vein with the potato cut. You must touch the wire to the potato and wait about 5-10 minutes, after which the result will be visible!

By a similar technique it is possible to determine the polarity of contacts in the DC circuit. To do this, the two wires fall into a cup of water and if near one of them bubbles begin to form, as shown in the photo below, then this is a minus and, accordingly, the second core is a plus.

Here we have provided the most simple ways how to determine the phase and zero without instruments. Once again, we draw your attention to the fact that only the first method is safe. When using the last two, care must be taken so that you do not get electrocuted!
Also read:

• How to find the junction box in the wall
• Why the socket will spark when the plug is turned on
• How to find the wire in the wall