Ground/Hot Reversed

[Coach James]

Hey guys,

Last week I had an outlet start malfunctioning. My circuit tester says ground and hot reversed. Outlet worked fine for years and is wired correctly.

Any ideas what could be the culprit? Loose wire somewhere else in the circuit?

Thanks
Coach

 

[dave*99]

Hey guys,

Last week I had an outlet start malfunctioning. My circuit tester says ground and hot reversed. Outlet worked fine for years and is wired correctly.

Any ideas what could be the culprit? Loose wire somewhere else in the circuit?

Thanks
Coach

It is backstabbed?
Check connections at this outlet and the one upstream that feeds it.
What type of malfunctioning?
Take voltage measurements from hot to neutral, hot to ground, neutral to ground, etc.

 

[dogdog]

Things don’t go supernaturally reverse it self.

Check if all the other plugs reversed or just one plug.

House monkey living in the attic ?

 

[gleman]

Is it a GFCI?

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

If you haven't already, take the outlet off and measure the hot, neutral and ground wires with your multimeter to see if you are getting correct readings.

 

[larry4406]

I had this once. Was loose neutral at panel.

I thinking you have a loose neutral somewhere.

 

[Coach James]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I got it squared away. Just for kicks, I hooked the new outlet up the same as the old outlet and got the same problem. I started checking voltages across the new outlet's hot, neutral and ground and got it working correctly. All other outlets on the circuit were good, just this one started acting up after 20+ years of working fine.

 

[PCustoms]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I got it squared away. Just for kicks, I hooked the new outlet up the same as the old outlet and got the same problem. I started checking voltages across the new outlet's hot, neutral and ground and got it working correctly. All other outlets on the circuit were good, just this one started acting up after 20+ years of working fine.

So what was the issue?

 

[whateg01]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I got it squared away. Just for kicks, I hooked the new outlet up the same as the old outlet and got the same problem. I started checking voltages across the new outlet's hot, neutral and ground and got it working correctly. All other outlets on the circuit were good, just this one started acting up after 20+ years of working fine.

Checking voltages doesn't usually fix stuff. What did you alter to fix it?

 

[Coach James]

On the old outlet that started not working, the hot and neutral were connected to the correct respective sides of the outlet. Both wires were attached to the hot and neutral terminals closest to the same outlet. If I remember correctly, voltage across hot and neutral was 0, across neutral and ground was 120, hot and ground was 120. Outlet would not power anything, despite having done so for years.

When I put in a new outlet, I left the hot closest to one outlet and moved the neutral closest to the other outlet. After doing so hot/neutral read 120, hot/ground was 120 and neutral/ground was 0. Circuit tester read "Correct".

The old outlet was back stabbed. The new one, I connected to the screw terminals.

 

[PCustoms]

On the old outlet that started not working, the hot and neutral were connected to the correct respective sides of the outlet. Both wires were attached to the hot and neutral terminals closest to the same outlet. If I remember correctly, voltage across hot and neutral was 0, across neutral and ground was 120, hot and ground was 120. Outlet would not power anything, despite having done so for years.

When I put in a new outlet, I left the hot closest to one outlet and moved the neutral closest to the other outlet. After doing so hot/neutral read 120, hot/ground was 120 and neutral/ground was 0. Circuit tester read "Correct".

The old outlet was back stabbed. The new one, I connected to the screw terminals.

No clue what any of this means.

 

[Coach James]

No clue what any of this means.

It is a duplex outlet with a ground, 2 hot terminal screws and 2 neutral terminal screws. One hot and neutral is closer to one outlet and the other hot and neutral are closer to the other outlet. The original outlet had the hot and neutral connected to the terminals closest to the same outlet. Outlet worked for years then stopped. When I replaced the outlet, I connected the hot closest to one outlet and the neutral closest to the other outlet. Outlet now works.

 

[PCustoms]

It is a duplex outlet with a ground, 2 hot terminal screws and 2 neutral terminal screws. One hot and neutral is closer to one outlet and the other hot and neutral are closer to the other outlet. The original outlet had the hot and neutral connected to the terminals closest to the same outlet. Outlet worked for years then stopped. When I replaced the outlet, I connected the hot closest to one outlet and the neutral closest to the other outlet. Outlet now works.

What you described should have no bearing on functionality.

Makes me worried you wired it totally wrong.

 

[Coach James]

What you described should have no bearing on functionality.

Makes me worried you wired it totally wrong.

It's hooked up green to ground, black to hot terminal and white to neutral. Circuit tester says it's correct. DMM reads 120 in both outlets.

I've replaced scores of outlets and it never mattered which hot or neutral I used. I don't know why this one seemed to be different.

 

[PCustoms]

It's hooked up green to ground, black to hot terminal and white to neutral. Circuit tester says it's correct. DMM reads 120 in both outlets.

I've replaced scores of outlets and it never mattered which hot or neutral I used. I don't know why this one seemed to be different.

Did you check both halves of the duplex with the tester?.

Almost sounds like you were testing one side and the tab connecting the two was broken.

 

[Coach James]

Did you check both halves of the duplex with the tester?.

Almost sounds like you were testing one side and the tab connecting the two was broken.

I did. Both showed "Correct" and both outlets read 120 on the DMM.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Did you check both halves of the duplex with the tester?.

Almost sounds like you were testing one side and the tab connecting the two was broken.

yeah the only way he could have this issue was the tab on the side was broken off.... impossible for that to happen unless someone messed with the receptacle

 

[PCustoms]

yeah the only way he could have this issue was the tab on the side was broken off.... impossible for that to happen unless someone messed with the receptacle

Or by chance when he first connected it there want proper contact, then by moving wires and connected correctly.

 

[whateg01]

What you described should have no bearing on functionality.

Makes me worried you wired it totally wrong.

If there was something else plugged in like a lamp somewhere on the branch, it could provide continuity so the would appear to be 120 on neutral. The placement of the wires "closer to one outlet or the other" has no bearing on it except that on the original outlet, the backstabbed wires probably developed a bad connection which is why stuff stopped working.

 

[dave*99]

New theory:

Since the house has backstabbed outlets, perhaps the outlet upstream of the one you replaced has an issue. And it was just coincidence that it started working again during your repair efforts.

 

[alfredeneuman]

3 light testers are great for detecting voltage and telling if something is amiss.
They're bad at diagnosing the problem by giving wrong readings

 

[Meursault74]

Is it a GFCI?

My brother had GFCI outlet that stopped working in his kitchen. I found the hot and ground "reversed reading" when I used a plug tester.. DMM gave the same results at the plugs. The wires were not reversed. The bare wires not connected to the outlet gave the correct readings. I had a spare normal outlet and put it in and it was fine. When he bought a new GFCI I swapped it out and it that one was fine. Something wrong with the internals of the original GFCI, but I didn't open it up to look. I don't believe there was current through the ground, as someone would have likely been shocked as there was a grounded toaster oven plugged in. Curious as to why the readings.