House Wiring: Series and Parallel

House Wiring: Series and Parallel

Grade 10 covered symbols and topology. Grade 11 applies them to a real domestic installation, where the series/parallel decision has consequences you can live with or live under.

Everything that must work independently is in parallel. Lights and socket outlets each sit across the full 230 V supply, so each operates at its rated voltage and one failing does not affect the others.

Protective devices are in series with the circuit they protect. A circuit breaker must carry the whole current of its circuit in order to interrupt it, so it goes in the line, not across it.

The distribution board divides the installation into separate circuits — lights, socket outlets, stove — each with its own breaker. A fault on one therefore trips only that circuit.

Earthing is a safety path, not part of the working circuit: it gives fault current a route back that trips the breaker rather than passing through a person.

Worked example. Wiring house lights in series would mean each lamp receiving only a share of 230 V — all of them dim — and one failure darkening the whole house. Parallel wiring solves both at once, which is why it is universal.

Core checkpoint: Loads in parallel, protection in series. Everything else follows.