Red, Green, Black, and White Wires

Better not. Green should ONLY be using for the (Safety) ground.

White is Neutral Black or red is Hot. Green or bare copper is ground.

If all you have in the conduit is white, green, and bare copper, then that is your only choice but that green wire has to be unambiguously labeled as Hot by painting the insulation near the ends black. And, it had better be the proper gauge.

There are various versions depending on maximum current but at the very least, the prongs are oriented differently.

Note that if it was a 230 VAC circuit, the breakers should have been ganged so if either tripped, they both went off. However, now, the way it was hooked up is correct for seprate circuits.

To be sure about all this, it would be a good idea to have a qualitifed electrician check it over.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

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Never, ever, use green for anything other than ground. Period. Say some idiot comes along in the future and gets killed because you used green for hot--you're on the hook for that one. Say the building inspector sees it? Use the wires the way they are intended to be used...

Yes, bad memory. There is no bare copper.

Thanks. I think I'll get the the guy's phone number and call him. I have a feeling he didn't use the red. It was snipped off, but may have been taped.

That makes more sense, but I like your advice about calling the electrician. If I were doing this, I'd hook up my voltmeter and simply verify the original wiring. Likely, what I would measure would be line voltage from either the red or black wires, to either the bare or the white wire.

This is an area where you don't want to be 'guessing'. If you don't have the proper equipment, you either need to get it, borrow it (and understand how it works) or let someone else do it. A little bit of knowledge (which you do appear to have) can be very dangerous in these situations.

As to the wires in the conduit. If you really had just a white, green and bare wire, my advice would be to use the bare wire to pull in a new length of black wire. It wouldn't have been all that hard to do, and would have insured that everything remained legal and kosher.

Thankfully, that issue has been resolved. Are electrical codes inspections required for new work in your locality?

jak

While you offer some good cautious advice, we do have a NEC case where a white wire can be designated as a hot wire by taping the ends black or red.

IMO, if the green wire is *verified* at the breaker to be a hot lead AND the gauge and insulation types are valid, then I don't see a problem with color-taping *BOTH* ends black or red and using it as a hot wire.

Yes and No....... If it's for use by 240V equipment, then yes. But it is acceptable to connect each side of a 240V feed to half of a 120V duplex outlet, with the neutral common to both. Kitchens outlets are commonly wired this way. My shop is also wired this way.

I guess I'm a little more cautious in my old age. I could 'maybe' get behind color-taping a wire with red tape. While probably legal, I'm dead-set against doing it with black. Trouble is, IMM, that black tape is so common that it could easily be overlooked or discounted at a casual glance. Red is a little different in that--being red--it might inspire at least caution, if not a full-stop and verification before going further.

I've done it with Cam-loc (Cleco) connectors, but in those situations, the entire connector was covered with the correct color tape; and *all* of the conductors were black anyway.

In any case, since the OP stated all the wires go through a conduit, I think I'd just replace the offending wire to code.

jak

Both red and black should raise one's awareness while working around hot, or even questionable, services.

Thinking more on this though, I don't recall ever seeing green "power" wire. I wonder if the wire in the conduit is appliance wire (rubber outer cover with white, black, red, green stranded wires). If so, without checking the NEC, I don't think this wire correct at all for how it's being used.

Red and black are both perfectly acceptable to use as hot. White may also be used in some circumstances but it must be marked with either red or black. Properly applied wire nuts do not normally need to be taped, so the only reason tape would be on a wire in a box is to mark the color. I'd have to check, but I seem to recall that it's forbidden to use a green wire for anything but ground, it's certainly not advisable.

That said, the OP responded to say that he got the colors wrong and that black, white, and green are what he has, which is precisely what I'd expect for a 120V branch wired with THHN in conduit. I guess people missed that.

He's already stated his error in the colors. The conductors pulled were correct; white/black/green. I imagine all else is kosher as well. I don't know who pulled the wires, or why they weren't hooked up at the time.

My reservation about color-taping was not directed at professionals, but at the odd homeowner 15 or 20 years down the line. The practice is apparently more common than I imagined, and--red or black--would flag itself to a pro.

jak

The most common place you see this is in switch legs where power is supplied directly to the ceiling box where the light fixture is mounted and then a separate drop goes from that to the switch. In that case both wires in that drop are technically hot, so the white one gets taped black and connects to the light fixture.

The ones that get me are those houses where someone used whatever color wire they had on hand for whatever, I see that in cars a lot of times too. Always verify, and never underestimate the crazy things that some previous person may have done. When I bought my house, all the switches downstairs were on the neutral side which caused me to get bit pretty good once. Yes, I should have shut off the breaker.

So, black-black, white-white, bare copper to bare copper (or green).

And, of course, splices using proper size solderless connectors ("Wire Nuts") or other acceptable means, inside proper elecrical boxes!

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

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But this is a 115 VAC outlet providing 115 VAC, not a 230 VAC outlet.

Only those with Frankstein tendencies will jerryrig a 230 VAC appliance into a split duplex outlet!!! ;)

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

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It isn't used to provide 240V service. It provides two 120V outlets, each with it's own 120V feed from opposite sides of the breaker box (separate phase).

You're entitled to your opinion, but it's a standard wiring configuration straight out of the NEC.

You're saying that NEC recommends jerryrigging a special cord with two plugs to get 230 VAC from a split 115 VAC outlet?

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

No the NEC doesn't, but you apparently can't get past what you think.

It is not jerryrigging to provide two 120V feeds using a 3-wire with ground (Bk, Red, Wht, & bare copper) cable.

The NEC does not describe all the ways a configuration might be used; that is left to you, which you have done well.

He never did say that wiring of the outlet was incorrect, just that use. You guys are on the same page and arguing about different things.

I am sure you can not feed a split duplex outlet with 240 volts if the outlet is only rated for 125 volts. Article 410-56(a) Article 110-3

Only the grounded conductor and the grounding conductor have specified colors. Article 200-6