Also, we used different colors for each circuit. Purple, blue, yellow, black, orange....
Just goes to show how different regions have different methods.
Why would anyone bother to use different wire colors for each circuit?? There is nothing wrong in trying to identify each circuit but wire coloring is not the way to go. Typically wire colors are used to identify the phase or the use of a conductor such a ground or neutral. Different colors have been selected locally to identify different voltages ( here it's normally Black, Red, Blue,white for 208V and Brown, Orange, Yellow, Gray for 480V ) and this does help to make things a little more simple for the next guy to figure out.
If anyone wishes to identify a circuit it's typical to number the circuit conductors. A book of wire number is not expensive and can be used anywhere. And it's easy enough to understand.
You folks probably want to know why it's really dumb to buy all those different colors rolls of wire. People don't like to throw out parts of wire rolls and would prefer to use as much as possible. Sooner or later you have short rolls of this stuff and you end up with one circuit with three different colors of wire and this defeats the whole purpose of useing different wire colors in the first place.
A system of identification only has any merit if it is used consistantly on all jobs and to the point where it is recognizable by others in the trade. There is kind of a system in place that is recoginized in most areas and that colors to identify phase and numbers to identify the circuit.
