wiring in immersion heater

[merseyman]

can anyone tell me what the white cable in immersion heater is called i.e. live negative or earth. it goes from one side of thermostat to a short rod in thermostat.

 

[breezer]

its called a white cable. its usually made of copper insulated with butyl rubber which can withstand heat.

the small thing that is the terminal is the heating element, the bit you can pull out is as you said the stat

 

[Softus]

As breezer has unhelpfully pointed out, it can be either live or neutral. However, it can't be an earth.

It's conventional to connect the live (aka phase) into the thermostat, then the thermostat to one element terminal, then the other element terminal to the neutral, so the best answer to your question is "live, probably".

 

[Taylortwocities]

More specifically, live when the thermostat contact is made.
It will be neutral when the stat contact is open.

 

[Softus]

More specifically, live when the thermostat contact is made.
It will be neutral when the stat contact is open.

Oh yes that's very helpful.

Let's start calling all switched live/phase wires "unswitched neutral" when the switch is open circuit. Perhaps it should go into the 18th Edition.

Hey! We could also rename all neutrals as "earth" when the installation isn't energised.

There's all manner of things that we could be "more specific" about...