There should be a cheat sheet,,, which is why I recommend Warren at self help, the things that the electrician knows that the handyman that "does wiring" typically doesn't. The whole neutral/grounding thing, difference between all this, a rod and a fault return, etc, sparkie understands what grounded conductor is.
People think in terms of grounding when the other half of it is wanting to maintain insulated "neutral" or "common" (again really grounded conductor) when these get "connected together anyway" ,,, usually shortly followed by the statement,,, "I just don't understand" or "cant see how" or better yet come up with their own theory,, "double ground" "extra safety wire".
I have a lot of respect for codes. The older I get the higher that respect gets, the biggest kick I get is from real smart people think they can instantly rationalize why "it don't matter" especially when someone is trying to teach them something, an earlier comment about it saying what it says is true and the collective wisdom involved is massive,,, all minds greater than my own and some as smart as the guys that send the guy to the moon or better.
We had a real local deal when I was a sprout, a retired engineer that became small township electrical building inspector. We done lets say more than a handful of local jobs, residential service upgrades, the only thing the old guy was concerned with was the bond at service,,, and this was simple, change out a panel. This eventually ran its course and the small townships finally realize that this whole thing, the administration, the help, etc was futile and this reverted back to the state, licensing enforced, real permits, real inspectors, a system to follow. Ha, rude awakening, first thing even though I didn't understand was what he wanted and how, its 95% mechanical I can do that, my understanding actually came later.
This concept still needs a little forum work. The N wire is a current carrying conductor. Chop this wire in half, put meter in, 120V, hook it back up we got grounded conductor, could touch connection without getting shock, some voltage depending on resistance and load but essentially grounded conductor (need real sparkie to explain this) anyway want all the neutrals to be insulated.
Good example, I moved a mobile home out of a park with a mess of service installs, when I set it I realize they had fed it 3 wire, no bond screw, ran the circuit grounds to a rod. I add a wire, all the grounds were already on their own bar, good, now I look for other problem and low and behold they install an electric dryer, unplug dryer, ah ha. The feed was 4 wire, the cord 4 wire but the leave the bond in and connect the ground to the chassis.
Knowing a bit about codes may aid in trouble shooting, my neighbor calls, has a problem, I ask,, what year was it built? A common question everyone hears about their car but never consider on a modular, in my case same thing with 2 bathroom, figured out that the second unit recept was live after tripping gfci in the first, sure enough they ran the wire to the first but put the feed to the second with the line side of the gfci. Knowing they would use the least circuits to comply with code often one can troubleshoot without tearing the place apart. Room additions, the builder had a good intent to run a new circuit back to the panel but puts the white and the bare under the same screw at the panel. My stuff blinks on and off, when I stick a meter to the ground pin I get 120, I bet I had a dozen friends/service calls over the years for that one. I found a service main (like mine) in a neighbors modular the other day, same deal, installer fed it 3 wire from a meter base, no screw.
I find a fair amount of sloppy stuff from people that should know better, it ain't all homeowner types fuk this up.
