Home wiring question?

Question

How can a home 120v circuit that is "dead" (none of the recepticles work) have 120v between the neutral white and the ground? Could it be that the white neutral side be open down past that point on the way to the panel? The breaker is on and hot, the black wire is hot.

Answer 1

My husband, a master electrician, said that somewhere the hot (black) and neutral (white) wires have been crossed. Go to the hardware store and spend about four bucks on a plug tester, which will tell you what's wrong. It has a series of lights which light up and a list on the side of the tester to tell what the lights indicate, i.e. reversed polarity, etc...

The other thing you need to do is check or test each line independently to another ground source to make sure it isn't the ground that's providing power.

He also says the neutral can't be open or you wouldn't have power anywhere...

That's as good as he can do without being there (that's a quote).

Answer 2

How may wires are in each outlet switch etc
If they do not add up you may want to look for a junction box in the attic and or crawlspace.
Sometimes when taps come loose they can make contact with other conductors and charge them
Just trace the circuit starting at the panel and find the reason that the voltage is feeding back Look for the last place that the circuit is working properly and go from there if there is no such place it may be the home run or first wire coming from the panel.
Also make sure that all of the colors are right on th e back of the outlets you could have a "hot neutral reverse"

Answer 3

you are correct IF you are checking the LOAD Neutral, or that neutral is part of a multi wire circuit and you are getting the 120v reading from the return path of the other circuit

Answer 4

if you have a bad gfi receptical first in the circuit, you would have normal readings at the breaker and not down line of the plug