@@morganinspectionservices3840, I was able to find the open neutral wire, after inspecting 5 receptacles (I wasn’t sure which one was closer to the breaker box). But took the opportunity to replace all the receptacles with new ones. Thanks again!
Really great advice. I had a difficult time with a mysterious lost neutral. Symptoms were weird, like everything is "hot" per non-contact probe in the switch boxes. Thought I'd share. I had a light and a ceiling fan which had lost neutral connection (lost someplace...not in the switch boxes). I located he appropriate breaker...which was labeled "lighting". Turns out that the home was wired creatively, and the breaker was labeled inaccurately. I could not determine where the neutral in the switch box was coming from, but found the neutral connection in service box to be tight. I eventually turned the breaker off and determined that there were a number of outlets in 2 bedrooms also powered by the breaker. I pulled every outlet powered by the circuit (as well as switch boxes for affected lights and ceiling fan). A couple outlets were the "end of the run" with only "power in" wires. A few were "daisy chained" feeding outlets down the line. There were 3 outlets which had 3 sets of wires ("Power-In", Daisy Chain feeding outlets down the line". I pulled outlets one by one and eventually found one with the 3 sets of wires...with a neutral stab-in which had fallen out and was loose in the box. I struggled finding the problem initially because I limited my search to the switch boxes powered by the circuit. I was incredibly happy to find the easy-fix problem (I had visions of a broken wire (screw or nail penetration...and ripping off drywall)). In hind sight the problem was simple...I just didn't start off correctly...by identifying all things powered by the circuit. Bonus...I now own a wire tracer (Klein Pro-Tracer)...which didn't help that much (except that it verified that neutral in the outlet box fed the switch neutral)...but will help me in the future with other projects where I have unknown broken wires...both AC and DC. Sorry for rambling...I just hope someone will find it helpful.
This is good stuff! I've dealt with this a lot as an electrician, and have to say the most challenging ones are older homes or homes where DIY wiring was involved. Often there are buried junction boxes or open splices in walls and there is no way to know how to find them.
Was very helpful had a shocking experience with a neutral today and was shocked by the result.Will surly go in with confidence on correting the problem.
Glad to come across this video. My son had this happen in his house, his master bedroom had one outlet working and the rest of the outlets and lights only registered 60v. Had "electricians" come out and they were dumb founded, said probably a loose connection somewhere. Power came back on so they charged $275 and left. Power back off in a couple of days. We replaced the breaker and all outlets and switches in the room, nothing. Another technician came out and a loose neutral wire under the house in an outlet. Another $175. What was odd was the power came into the room at one outlet, back out to under the house then back to the room. It was the one under the house that threw us off, I would have thought it was 1st in line before the room.
That’s pretty wild. Missing or disconnected neutrals can be very confusing and difficult to diagnose. Maybe you should have those electricians watch this video then they might have an easier time next time. Lol.
Interestingly, your tester indicates the correct defect when a GFCI is present because the contactor inside of the GFCI is a double pole single pole configuration. When a GFCI trips, it interrupts both the hot and the neutral. So, if you ever arrive to an outage, and you see there is no continuity between the equipment grounding conductor and the grounded conductor, you know that likely a hidden GFCI trip is to blame. Thank you for producing this video. Have a great day.
This is exactly what I needed, I have two outlets one that says no neutral and the other that says ground neutral reverse. Your great explanation will help me to fix this problem this weekend.
Tjank you! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I watched a half dozen other vids on this issue, which I have. None of the other vids made any sense and I didn't understand it. Your video was clear and explained the problem in a way that my underpowered simian brain could understand. Thank you@
This is very helpful when you are dealing with a single leg of power. So 1 120v circuit breaker. If you have a shared neutral, which means it it a single neutral wire for 2 different 120v circuits that are out of phase, then when you plug in that drill and there is a lightbulb on the other leg the drill receives 240v and blows up. This is why a shared neutral is not used by many electricians. Even though that is actually how your house is connected to the street transformer.
A GFCI determines a fault by metering the difference between the hot and the neutral. If the neutral is open the GFCI will trip. To many times when we replace a GFCI, only to find out the new one doesn’t work either, a neutral is the culprit. Great video, it shows how to use the tester to help isolate the problem.
How? Without a neutral, current can’t flow for the GFCI to monitor or compare….now if you send your return current down the equipment grounding conductor instead then yes. The GFCI will sense the current leaving but not returning on its respective neutral……..pop goes the trip mechanism!
Thank you for the information... I had two outlets not working so I ran out and picked up that same outlet tester and it did point me in in the right direction. I figured it out but this is a great explanation here of the process, will help me out in the future.
Thank you for the great videos. They are explained clearly and mock-up stations are very useful. Also appreciate how you get right to the content. Thank you!
What a great video, you must have thick skin talking about electrical. After watching a few videos it sure turns into who's got a bigger stick. Great video though and I learned a lot really helped me a lot.
I'll have to say this one is confusing to me. Looks like to me the tester should of shown that it was a open neutral. I had a tester similar to that years ago but haven't a clue where I lost it. I have a old school Simpson 260 and a digital Beckman HD110 I use now. Anyways...I enjoy your videos and glad your trying to help electricians and others solve their problems.
Thanks for the help! Very good explanation! Found this problem today but didn't have time to work on it. Now I have great information to tackle it. Thanks for posting these videos.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I followed your video and after checking 3 boxes, there was a neutral that was not connected in a junction box. It looked like they forgot to even connect it to the 2 other neutrals that had a wire nut. Thanks again. I will definitely be checking your site in the future for more ideas.
Needed the load applied in order to receive a shock at the open neutral. No load, no shock as stated. Would like the GFCI issue explored some more. A thank you.
Amazing video. I don't normally leave comments, but this is such a good video that I had to comment. Also share the video with my brothers. Please keep producing such high quality video.
The biggest problems in residential and apartment industry: 1) The breaker panelboard is burnt up at the breaker connection. 2) The neutral wire on the neutral bar in the breaker panel is burnt/loose. 3) Check every receptacle on the circuit, because the neutrals are most likely burnt. (Check all closets and cabinets and behind beds, people!) 4) check the series connection where the circuit splits off to difference fixtures or GFIs.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 yes, I did find the issue. The first receptacle on the circuit, which was working fine, had a broken neutral going down stream. I will always start at the panel first, and so on. Thanks! 👍
This is all good in theory and when you can see the wiring. The challenge is determining which outlets are connected and the direction of the wiring behind a wall. The tone tracer is not easy to use. Also outlets are easier to troubleshoot than light switches. I just spent 3 days fixing a few outlets. I can't believe how bad the quality of wiring in a 20 year old house.
Yea he didn't find the disconnected N, only isolated the issue to a disconnected N ... Like you said, to find that open N can be a nightmare. Next he said the N had 120V on it which is also incorrect.
Generally the circuits run plug to plug and you have a wire serving as a "homerun" back to the panel that comes into a plug where your circuit begins. To determine where it begins is easy when you turn a breaker off a section of plugs along with switches will be off. When you open them up there will be in most one set of wires into a receptacle and one out to the next receptacle. The homerun can only supply 8 receptacles per circuit, or 10 lights per nec code. Lights in residential are 99% branched off of the nearest plug, 1% are supplied by a homerun. Tighten all the neutral connections on your receptacles and ensure all your wire nut connections on your neutrals are tight. Over time they can come loose because of the heat the electricity creates at the resistance points which are your junctions or makeups and the receptacle connections.
@@nicholecrouch311 #1 not all electricians follow code AFTER the fact. So when alterations are done, they find the quickest route. Also when they do repairs, they do the quickest route. Also when they are re-wiring and no permit is pulled and this is a quick re-wire, they do not always follow code. Next the connections become loose over time due to vibration. As the current flows, it creates vibration. So while your theory is correct about the homerun feeds the 1st outlet, NOT always the case.
Oh, boy. This has been a stumper for me. With the exception of one outlet at the end of the run, this circuit only serves ceiling light fixtures. Two lights work, but anything beyond them is out. When the initial failure occurred, the lights flickered and have since blinked on/off for a split second intermittently. I have pulled cover plates for the light switches and all neutrals, with the exception of the ones that work, indicate they are hot when I use my lighted/toned tester. I have begun removing ceiling fixtures to examine wiring inside the ceiling boxes, but am hopeful there might be an easier way to check for a loose neutral. Thanks for your time and valued advice.
The other option it’s when shared power outlets and light outlets. A loose neutral could make lights flickering or not working. To found it, you need a tracer
Yeah, most of the loads in my ckt are lights, smoke detectors, and two outlets. As soon as I turn on any light(or add any load) in the ckt, the breaker trips. And those smoke detectors are upstairs and downstairs with one light upstairs. In other words the ckt runs all over the house so I have to figure out what's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc from the box. And then there's how the wiring is done...is it from the box to the load then to the switch, or from the box to the switch then load? Also, you have to "assume" the builders used accepted standards for wiring...black/red for hot, white for neutral, and bare copper or green for ground. This video does help me understand and gives me a way to test. Thanks
OK, I found my problem and it is now fixed. I didn't know if the disconnected neutral could have been anywhere in the circuit (NO). The only outlets that are affected are the one that has the problem as well as the ones downstream from the problem. It really helps to know which way the outlets are connected from the electrical panel to the last outlet on the circuit. I wish you would have made that more clear in your video by disconnecting the neutral from the 3rd outlet and showing that you have a good circuit at the 1st AND 2nd outlet, and the problem is with the 3rd and 4th outlets.
I'm glad you were able to find the problem. I appreciate the feedback. I will try to make another video and make sure to point out what you are suggesting.
And the fact that he said at 1:05 the Neutral had 120V on it ... I use a volt-meter to test my outlets. H to N = 0V H to G = 120V = open Neutral OR H to N = 120V H to G = 0V = open ground
I had a friend that needed me to come over and see the problem with his wiring. The appliance’s such as the refrigerator etc would cause a voltage drop on one hot leg and the other would spike up such as 56v on one side and 178v on the other side. After all the trouble shooting for couple of days l had them to call the power company and the lady run a test over the phone which showed there was no problem on there end so I trouble shooted again at the panel box a couple more days and still had the same problem. So I had the power company to come out and check from the transformer back to the meter and they couldn’t find anything loose but they didn’t open the meter box and was going to leave until I got there. I had them to remove the meter and there was the problem a loose neutral bus bar and partially melted hot leg coming in from the street! Problem solved after all that! So if anyone is having this problem I would recommend doing this first before all the inside troubleshooting besides it’s a free service from the power company! By doing this first it could save the house from catching on fire and save the life of someone!
My guess is that in your friends house some circuits maybe wired as multi-wire branch circuits as yhat would explain the voltage going over 120v and the 56v drop from bad/loosd connection.
So your friend actually had a problem that I consider a lost neutral, and not a disconnected neutral. I have a totally different video on the lost neutral. Lost neutrals can certainly cause a lot of problems and damage equipment inside the home. Here is a link to that video. ua-cam.com/video/S3dvzOZm-58/v-deo.htmlsi=8tbL_PIZcRw7USf0
Fabulous. The light in my wife's office died, turns out the neutral is connected. This happened after we reworked some wall switches in another room. We must have disconected the neutral.
Check for loose neutrals also, they cause flickering lights, found my loose neutral at the main breaker box, it was arching intermittently at the neutral screw because it was loose, it melted about half way through the wire!
So I'm getting low voltage throughout my whole house. My refrigerator won't run; lights are working but flicker when I turn fan on. I tested many of the receptacles and breaker boxes with meter and all that seems to be reading fine. Any help would be appreciated. Ty.
To me it sounds like you have a lost neutral rather than an open neutral. A loss neutral is where your neutral becomes disconnected or has a poor connection before your breaker panel. I have a separate video on lost neutrals. I would suggest you check the voltage before and after turning on a fairly heavy load such as a microwave or something like that. This test works best if you turn on a heavy 120-V load, rather than a 240-V load. If you get a voltage change of say 10 to 20 volts, I would definitely say you have a lost neutral. You did say that you have measured low voltages. With a lost neutral you should have some outlets reading high voltage, as well. With this lost neutral, your high and low voltages should add up to somewhere around 240 or 250 V. In other words, if you have low voltage of 90 V, for example, you should have a voltage on the other leg of your electrical service of about 150 V. If you do indeed only have low-voltage everywhere and no high-voltage anywhere, then the problem is not a lost neutral. I would suggest contacting your electric company at that point. I will definitely be interested to hear the final results of what you find. If you want to comment again and give me further details after you do this additional testing, that would be great.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Thank you for the reply! Let me see if I can explain this a little bit better: Last year I started noticing some fluctuations with my fans; sometimes they would go too slow and sometimes they would go too fast; all my major appliances were working fine at the time. I called the power company and they checked things on their end; they replaced a couple things and also said some mice got into my outside breaker box. After that, my power was working fine for the next 9 months without me doing anything. Last month, I came home from an appointment, I heard my refrigerator kick on, and at the exact same time, a surge protector behind my TV fried/started smoking. I changed surge protectors, it fried the second one. I started having fluctuations with fans again, and when I turned on my skillet, it blew an overhead light bulb. The electrician came over, tested the outside breaker box and the inside breaker box; all readings were correct. I proceeded to show the electrician that I was having fluctuations in power; the electric weed wacker was either not hardly turning or turning way too fast. The outdoor receptacle was getting a high reading, at times. The electrician suggested that I replace the outdoor breaker box and the 100 amp breaker. I said ok, ordered the parts, but the electrician never came back. Without me doing anything, the electricity seemed to be working normal again for almost a month. I hooked up a couple surge protectors to be on the safe side. I'm patiently waiting for the electrician to return... Now to the present, or just a couple days ago, I get woken up by my fan kicking into overdrive. I go out to the kitchen and turn off the refrigerator. I turn on my Skillet and instantly my bedroom surge protector gets fried. The power company comes over, checks behind the outdoor meter, notices some corrosion, but the readings were coming back correct. My friend then took the volt meter, tested my inside breaker box but couldn't find any issues with the readings. All the receptacles are reading around 120, but none of the receptacles will run anything more than a fan or a light. So now, I have no refrigerator or skillet to cook with. My well pump and hot water (heat pump) seem to be working okay, thank goodness. I think that explains it. I'm not very familiar with these types of things, and it feels very foreign to me. I would appreciate more of your advice, if you don't mind. You look and sound very scientific. The experiments look cool, I just can't understand them completely. Thank you sir!
That’s fine for one circuit, but I have 4 independent circuits all showing a hot-neutral reverse even after I have remove all but one circuit breaker. The neutral bus bar in the main box is sharing all the shunt, I guess. The fault displays when nothing is plugged in but I have a GFCI receptacle in 2 of the 4 circuits. So far one is removed. All I can do is completely (hot, neural & ground) disconnect each circuit in the fuse box to isolate which circuit is the problem. This is in a modern wired system working for 5 year, then one afternoon - poof. No breakers tripped. I suspect a mouse. But thanks.
I'm having issues with lights flashing and outlets not working but putting out less voltage. For example I cant use my tv if the modem and router are both plugged in. Sometimes I can have both router and modem plugged in and it works but I can't use the lights anywhere else , then sometimes it only works when I have a light on. The issues seem mainly in the living room and kitchen but also have happened throughout out the entire house. Then sometimes when I turned breakers on/off the lights for the wrong breaker went on and off. I replaced a broken outlet and a loose one in the living room. I also replaced the main breaker and everything worked great for a few hrs then bam everything went out in the living room now back to square one. Pretty sure I have a loose connection somewhere but I can't find it. Also when I used the plug in tester I got the 2 correct red lights but in about 6 or so plug outlets I got the correct 2 red lights but the red lights were very dim instead of bright. And on 2 outlets that were installed upside down I got the reverse light on tester.
I told this guy he made a mistake on his video and he argued with me and refused to tell me that i was wrong and shut me off. Don't expect an answer from him
My first thought would be that all of the lights upstream of the disconnected neutral should work, while those located after the disconnected neutral will not work. This should help significantly in narrowing down where the neutral is disconnected.
thank you very much but I have a question, in my case I have 7 outlets have open neutral and nothing working attach to them, would this be the circuit breaker? because when I used the ohmmeter I got that all 7 neutral connected but not connected to the main box in the garage
believe it or not , I found the 8th outlet was attached and it was the one that needs to be changed. I just do not believe that there are 8 outlet connected to each other@@morganinspectionservices3840
Actually, you don’t have a neutral until downstream of the transformer. But if you have a bad neutral somewhere between the transformer and your home, then that’s falls under the category of “lost neutral.“ I have a separate video on that. An open neutral will be somewhere after your electric panel.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Thanks for your help, I found the bad neutral, it was where it bolted to the transformer, it was very loose it you pull and push on the wire and it would slide back and forth, I tightened it a couple turns. As loose as it was it only acted up occasionally.
You were able to do that yourself at the transformer? That is surprising. But I’m glad you found the problem. I recently helped someone else who had a bad connection at his transformer. The electric company came out and repaired it for him.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Yes , I did it myself I do tree work so I had a tall ladder, I had the electric company out back a month ago they said the problem was on me side.
What about actually using certified instruments? You plug in a CAT 3 multimeter and you get 60-ish volts on the neutral as it runs next to live and PE. You know it's disconnected somewhere and it's floating. That's the 15 dollar solution and everyone can do it. If you actually do inspections or electrical work, then you should have a meter capable of line and earth loop impedance measurements that literally tell you everything on a push of a button and will tell you if the connection is made but it's bad in the form of ohms. This whole thing with indicator lamps and all is a total waste of time and never should even be considered.
Excellent video! The question I have is why would the tester indicate “hot/neutral reverse”? Plugging in the drill connects the hot (black) wire to one wire of the drill. Since the neutral is open current cannot flow thru the drill so the other wire of the drill (white wire) is at 120V potential. Basically, BOTH the black and white wire are at 120V. This is not a reverse polarity- it’s a “hot on both conductor “ situation. I would think the tester could detect that condition & have a specific light pattern to indicate that. Is my reasoning correct? I generated a schematic that shows what you demonstrated in this video and it basically shows a load across the receptacle with one wire (the neutral) disconnected- so both the black and white are at 120V potential. This isn’t a “reverse” situation. If I’m incorrect please tell me.
I realize this is a very delayed response, but I did not see your comment. We are not getting a hot/neutral reverse indication on the tester. We are getting a hot/ground reverse indication on the tester. This is exactly for the reason that you describe. The tester sees that the hot and the neutral are at the same voltage, and that the ground is at a different voltage. This is a deficiency of these testers. When it sees that configuration, it calls it a hot/ground reverse. It assumes that the ground is hot and that the hot and the neutral are at 0 V. While in actuality, the hot and neutral are at 120 V, and the ground is at 0 V.
What if there is still power detected in the outlets after turning the circuit breaker off at the panel? When I try plugging a night light intoi the outlet, it doesnt light up. But I read voltage present with my non contact voltage detector. I try both the klein and greely no contact voltage testers that I have. The problem started the day before thanksgiving I was using an instapot on one outlet, and an air fryer on the other outlet on the counter. Power went out. I reset the breaker and it didnt come back. My fridge and stove are both on that circuit. I tested outlets and initially they were showing hot/grnd refersed. After watching your video I came with the same results you were with load applied. Now showing open neutral. I have checked all the outlets starting with the one the air fryer was using when everything went out there is one outlet farther away from the breaker panel. the next going toward the panel is the one for the fridge. then moving toward the panel there is a junction box of sorts that is behind the cabinetry that was installed a few years ago. It looks as if it was left there and just ran travellers to where the fridge is located. (only 3 feet or so away from the breaker panel, Then there is one more outlet that is above the stove and one below it that is used only by the stove. My question is that there is more than one of those boxes that only have one set of wires coming into the box Why would that be:? isnt a home run usally straight from the breker panel all the way furthest from the panel and starts powering the circuit from that oultlet and moving back toward the breaker panel? Please I need help. It is Tuesday and I am still without power for my fridge as well as my range/oven sine wednesday before thanksgiving. Any help is MUCH MUCH appreciated.
Hi Eric. A home run typically runs to the outlet closest to the panel and then subsequent outlets are fed from that outlet in a daisy chain. If you are saying that there are several outlets that only have one set of wires coming into the box, then, perhaps you have a junction box with the hot wire coming in and then several wires going from that junction box to feed individual outlets/receptacles. So with every load unplugged, are you still getting the hot/ground reversed indication?
If you have a flaky neutral at the circuit-breaker box, would the symptoms be something like: GOOD apparent reading on entire circuit - until a load, which then does the same reading as you have. ALSO, I have 4 breakers that seem to be cross-wired or something. For example, circuit two shows fine until I enable circuit one - then I get either a red-off-amber or even red-amber-amber. This happens only on one side of the panel. Very frustrating tracking it down.
Thats a great point, a loose N at the panel will probably show good until there is a load on it. While it may read 120V at the outlet, you put a load on it and it won't pass current. We had a 240V dryer line show 240V and 120V on each leg but would not run the dryer. Apparently there was some resistance on that cable and would not allow current to flow but let the voltage thru. Took 2 appliance repair guys and 2 trips back to the appliance store to verify the dryer WAS working.
Switched receptacle at my furnace is giving me troubles. Will work fine for weeks at a time then just stop receiving power. Tester shows Hot/Ground reverse when switched on. Normal when switched off. Is it something as simple as crossed wires? Or should I just buy a new switched receptacle and replace it. If you play with the switch repeatedly. The light on the furnace board will get a split second of juice every now and then.
I have a problem with the wiring in my garage which tests as an open neutral. I'm confused about why putting a load on the circuit helps find the open neutral. Wouldn't the tester show open neutral after the break instead of plugging in a load and the tester shows hot/ground reversed after the break? I can see if you tested and the tester showed hot/ground reversed that it would not necessarily be a hot/ground reversed and might be an open neutral. I would appreciate any help.
Putting a load on the circuit doesn’t necessarily help find an open neutral - it just changes the indication that your tester gives you. If you’re having problems in your garage, and there are several receptacles that are daisychained together, then your tester should help you to determine where the problem actually starts.
I'm looking for a lost nuetral from switch box to switch box. Thinking I will have to turn off the circuit and ring out the neutrals with my multimeter.(ohm them out)
@@morganinspectionservices3840 That would be my guess. I have a feeling a light fixture is involved. It's in a 1988 kitchen, 4 or 5 outlets, and a light are on the circuit. The outlet is definitely the last on the run. Only one set of wires going to it. Thanks!
@@morganinspectionservices3840 NONE.. Everything else works just fine. I guess if I had to pick a dead plug, it would be the last one on the circuit. It can't effect anything else. lol
It may not be a bad splice. It could just be a damaged wire. Even so, back in the day, I don’t think they were putting splices in walls, so the large majority of splices should be in the attic. I would think about the best you can do is use the procedure shown to isolate as closely as possible the location of the open neutral. Once you do that, I would verify that you have a good neutral in the attic that may be running down to the affected outlet. If you do have a good neutral, then the problem may very well be in the wall. At this point, the best thing to do may be just to fish a new wire to the “bad“ outlet.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 That's what I normally do. I abandon the K&T as much as possible, and I run new romex to the receptacles in question. The only problem is that sometimes the customer doesn't want to pay extra for it.
Yes, it is possible. The three light tester simply acts like three multimeters. You would just have to check the voltage between all three combinations of two slots on the receptacles. If you have proper voltage between the hot/ground and the hot/neutral slots, then this indicates a properly wired receptacle. When your tester shows voltage between the neutral and ground, and between the ground and hot, then this is the same as the hot/ground reverse indication on the tester.
I have 3 lights operating on one switch 2 porch lights and a security light. The porch lights work fine. The security light however has 50VAC between black & ground and neutral and ground. What to do?
Is it possible that you have a load connected in series with the security light that is causing a voltage drop? If not this, then I would start by visibly tracing the wire looking for a problem and look at all connections.
Well you didn't show how to find the open N but you showed how to troubleshoot to identify an open N and you isolated it between the 1st and 2nd outlets ...
That’s correct. I showed how to narrow down the location of the open neutral. There’s no way for me to cover every possible cause of an open neutral. It could have come loose from one of the receptacles. A rat could’ve chewed through the wire, I suppose. A nail could have gone through the neutral and opened it up. Once you narrow it down between two receptacles/outlets, you’ve just got to start following the wire and checking connections and things.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Well you DID have a setup there, you COULD have created an open somewhere to track down and show how you tracked it down. Would not take long between 2 outlets ...
@@ACommenterOnUA-cam That’s exactly what I did in the video. I created an open neutral between the first and second receptacles and showed how to isolate it between those two receptacles. There’s not much more I can do to show how to find it inside a wall other than to say what I said towards the end of the video. Are you suggesting I create an open neutral on an actual outlet in my home and then show how to track it down? If that’s what you’re suggesting, then yes, I could have and still could do that.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 What you did and what you showed where the actual open was is a different story. You said your open was between the 1st and 2nd outlet. THATS IT ... You didn't find the exact open, it could have been AT the socket or in the wire itself between the two sockets due to rodents or corroded or loose wire nuts ... What you did in your video was isolated the open between 2 points, not actually physically finding the open. Your title said how to FIND a disconnected N, you didn't find it, you isolated it between 2 points. You never showed the actual OPEN N anywhere ... What you SHOULD have done was opened the 2 sockets to expose the open N and say, HERE IS MY OPEN whether it was at the socket connection or inside the wire itself ...
2:16 this works great if the electrician wired the house up in a manner that makes sense. If this was done back in the late 20th century it would be very difficult to find.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Be honest I just follow the process you did in your video and I found the bad box and that electrical box coming directly from electrical panel and same time that electrical box supplies electricity to other 10 boxes , So I take care that electrical box and happy family , we got power back to the rest of the electrical boxes. Thanks.
It has 120 volts on it when the drill is plugged in and the trigger is pulled. I didn’t want the neutral wire becoming live while still exposed, so I put the wire nut on it in advance.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Well thats NOT what you said in the video and the drill was NOT plugged in. You said the N has 120V on it BEFORE you plugged in the drill so you gave out a false statement. You could have disconnected the N and not get shocked because it does NOT have 120V on it ... And next where you going to plug in the drill and turn it ON and touch that N to get shocked while recording ?? NO ...
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I don't understand that you made an incorrect statement in your video ??? No i understand 100% that you made an incorrect statement and you refuse to correct yourself but want to blame ME for your mistake ...
After watching more than ten UA-cam videos, I finally found this one, which explains everything in a clear and thorough manner. Thank you.
I’m glad you found it. Thanks for the feedback.
@@morganinspectionservices3840, I was able to find the open neutral wire, after inspecting 5 receptacles (I wasn’t sure which one was closer to the breaker box).
But took the opportunity to replace all the receptacles with new ones. Thanks again!
Really great advice.
I had a difficult time with a mysterious lost neutral. Symptoms were weird, like everything is "hot" per non-contact probe in the switch boxes. Thought I'd share.
I had a light and a ceiling fan which had lost neutral connection (lost someplace...not in the switch boxes). I located he appropriate breaker...which was labeled "lighting". Turns out that the home was wired creatively, and the breaker was labeled inaccurately. I could not determine where the neutral in the switch box was coming from, but found the neutral connection in service box to be tight. I eventually turned the breaker off and determined that there were a number of outlets in 2 bedrooms also powered by the breaker. I pulled every outlet powered by the circuit (as well as switch boxes for affected lights and ceiling fan). A couple outlets were the "end of the run" with only "power in" wires. A few were "daisy chained" feeding outlets down the line. There were 3 outlets which had 3 sets of wires ("Power-In", Daisy Chain feeding outlets down the line". I pulled outlets one by one and eventually found one with the 3 sets of wires...with a neutral stab-in which had fallen out and was loose in the box.
I struggled finding the problem initially because I limited my search to the switch boxes powered by the circuit. I was incredibly happy to find the easy-fix problem (I had visions of a broken wire (screw or nail penetration...and ripping off drywall)).
In hind sight the problem was simple...I just didn't start off correctly...by identifying all things powered by the circuit.
Bonus...I now own a wire tracer (Klein Pro-Tracer)...which didn't help that much (except that it verified that neutral in the outlet box fed the switch neutral)...but will help me in the future with other projects where I have unknown broken wires...both AC and DC.
Sorry for rambling...I just hope someone will find it helpful.
@@alano2875 Thanks for the input. Glad you were able to solve your problem. This could be helpful to others.
Went from freakout to fixed in 5 minutes because of this video. THANK YOU!!!
So glad it helped.
This is good stuff! I've dealt with this a lot as an electrician, and have to say the most challenging ones are older homes or homes where DIY wiring was involved. Often there are buried junction boxes or open splices in walls and there is no way to know how to find them.
Very true! Appreciate the comment.
Perfect for me, and I realise I need a socket tester. Thanks for taking the time to make this video, and set up the live test / demo rig
Thank you for this video, easy to follow steps to isolate and fix the open neutral issue I was experiencing.
Glad it helped
Was very helpful had a shocking experience with a neutral today and was shocked by the result.Will surly go in with confidence on correting the problem.
Glad to come across this video. My son had this happen in his house, his master bedroom had one outlet working and the rest of the outlets and lights only registered 60v. Had "electricians" come out and they were dumb founded, said probably a loose connection somewhere. Power came back on so they charged $275 and left. Power back off in a couple of days. We replaced the breaker and all outlets and switches in the room, nothing. Another technician came out and a loose neutral wire under the house in an outlet. Another $175. What was odd was the power came into the room at one outlet, back out to under the house then back to the room. It was the one under the house that threw us off, I would have thought it was 1st in line before the room.
That’s pretty wild. Missing or disconnected neutrals can be very confusing and difficult to diagnose. Maybe you should have those electricians watch this video then they might have an easier time next time. Lol.
Interestingly, your tester indicates the correct defect when a GFCI is present because the contactor inside of the GFCI is a double pole single pole configuration. When a GFCI trips, it interrupts both the hot and the neutral. So, if you ever arrive to an outage, and you see there is no continuity between the equipment grounding conductor and the grounded conductor, you know that likely a hidden GFCI trip is to blame. Thank you for producing this video. Have a great day.
Great info. Thank you.
This is exactly what I needed, I have two outlets one that says no neutral and the other that says ground neutral reverse. Your great explanation will help me to fix this problem this weekend.
I spent hours looking for my open neutral until I watched this and found it in 5 minutes in my dining room light fixture.. thanks for the video!!
Thanks for the feedback. So glad the video was helpful.
What a great job! I wish I had seen this before. I had the same problem . it took forever before I found that open neutral.
Thank you for the feedback.
One circuit just developed a hot ground reverse as shown by my three light tester. This was very helpful in how to diagnose it.
I’m glad it helped. Thanks for the feedback.
Tjank you! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I watched a half dozen other vids on this issue, which I have. None of the other vids made any sense and I didn't understand it. Your video was clear and explained the problem in a way that my underpowered simian brain could understand. Thank you@
This is very helpful when you are dealing with a single leg of power. So 1 120v circuit breaker.
If you have a shared neutral, which means it it a single neutral wire for 2 different 120v circuits that are out of phase, then when you plug in that drill and there is a lightbulb on the other leg the drill receives 240v and blows up.
This is why a shared neutral is not used by many electricians. Even though that is actually how your house is connected to the street transformer.
Good information. Thanks for sharing.
A GFCI determines a fault by metering the difference between the hot and the neutral. If the neutral is open the GFCI will trip. To many times when we replace a GFCI, only to find out the new one doesn’t work either, a neutral is the culprit. Great video, it shows how to use the tester to help isolate the problem.
👌
How? Without a neutral, current can’t flow for the GFCI to monitor or compare….now if you send your return current down the equipment grounding conductor instead then yes. The GFCI will sense the current leaving but not returning on its respective neutral……..pop goes the trip mechanism!
Thank so much for your video it help me resolve my issue, I love the way you explain, very clear and right to the point
Thank you
Thank you for the information... I had two outlets not working so I ran out and picked up that same outlet tester and it did point me in in the right direction. I figured it out but this is a great explanation here of the process, will help me out in the future.
You’re welcome. I appreciate the feedback.
Thank you for taking the time to put this video out.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the great videos. They are explained clearly and mock-up stations are very useful.
Also appreciate how you get right to the content.
Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback
Been watching all your videos I am getting closer. I love how you teach me Why it is because that helps me puzzle solve.
Thanks for the feedback. This encourages me to continue making videos.
Thank you sir fir your time, talent and expertise.
What a great video, you must have thick skin talking about electrical. After watching a few videos it sure turns into who's got a bigger stick. Great video though and I learned a lot really helped me a lot.
Thanks for watching!
I'll have to say this one is confusing to me. Looks like to me the tester should of shown that it was a open neutral. I had a tester similar to that years ago but haven't a clue where I lost it. I have a old school Simpson 260 and a digital Beckman HD110 I use now. Anyways...I enjoy your videos and glad your trying to help electricians and others solve their problems.
This is a great video. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the help! Very good explanation! Found this problem today but didn't have time to work on it. Now I have great information to tackle it. Thanks for posting these videos.
Thank you for the feedback. I hope you are quickly able to solve your problem. I would love to hear what you find.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I followed your video and after checking 3 boxes, there was a neutral that was not connected in a junction box. It looked like they forgot to even connect it to the 2 other neutrals that had a wire nut. Thanks again. I will definitely be checking your site in the future for more ideas.
wow! i was going to fix the hot/neutral reverse first, but this video is giving me a hint to fix the open neutral first. thanks
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated.
Needed the load applied in order to receive a shock at the open neutral.
No load, no shock as stated. Would like the GFCI issue explored some more.
A thank you.
Amazing video. I don't normally leave comments, but this is such a good video that I had to comment. Also share the video with my brothers. Please keep producing such high quality video.
Thanks so much.
super helpful ,, thank you sir for taking the time..
You are welcome!
The biggest problems in residential and apartment industry:
1) The breaker panelboard is burnt up at the breaker connection.
2) The neutral wire on the neutral bar in the breaker panel is burnt/loose.
3) Check every receptacle on the circuit, because the neutrals are most likely burnt. (Check all closets and cabinets and behind beds, people!)
4) check the series connection where the circuit splits off to difference fixtures or GFIs.
Good advice
This video nailed my issue. Thank you!!!
So glad to hear that.
Excellent! Thanks for making this very helpful video!
Mike--Thanks so much! Very helpful! 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Earned my sub for sure, very informative and easy to understand. Job well done!
This was very clear and helpful to me. I am having this problem in and old old house.
Glad it helped. Hopefully, you were able to get the issue fixed.
Thanks this was just what i needed to know short concise .
You're welcome!
Excellent video, I am currently experiencing this situation. 👍
I hope you were able to find the issue. I am always interested to hear about problems like this and how you figured things out.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 yes, I did find the issue. The first receptacle on the circuit, which was working fine, had a broken neutral going down stream. I will always start at the panel first, and so on. Thanks! 👍
This is all good in theory and when you can see the wiring. The challenge is determining which outlets are connected and the direction of the wiring behind a wall. The tone tracer is not easy to use. Also outlets are easier to troubleshoot than light switches. I just spent 3 days fixing a few outlets. I can't believe how bad the quality of wiring in a 20 year old house.
Yea he didn't find the disconnected N, only isolated the issue to a disconnected N ...
Like you said, to find that open N can be a nightmare.
Next he said the N had 120V on it which is also incorrect.
Buy an Amprobe.
Generally the circuits run plug to plug and you have a wire serving as a "homerun" back to the panel that comes into a plug where your circuit begins. To determine where it begins is easy when you turn a breaker off a section of plugs along with switches will be off. When you open them up there will be in most one set of wires into a receptacle and one out to the next receptacle. The homerun can only supply 8 receptacles per circuit, or 10 lights per nec code. Lights in residential are 99% branched off of the nearest plug, 1% are supplied by a homerun. Tighten all the neutral connections on your receptacles and ensure all your wire nut connections on your neutrals are tight. Over time they can come loose because of the heat the electricity creates at the resistance points which are your junctions or makeups and the receptacle connections.
@@nicholecrouch311 #1 not all electricians follow code AFTER the fact. So when alterations are done, they find the quickest route.
Also when they do repairs, they do the quickest route.
Also when they are re-wiring and no permit is pulled and this is a quick re-wire, they do not always follow code.
Next the connections become loose over time due to vibration. As the current flows, it creates vibration.
So while your theory is correct about the homerun feeds the 1st outlet, NOT always the case.
I just spent 8hrs today tracking down a loose neutral. Not fun.
Oh, boy. This has been a stumper for me. With the exception of one outlet at the end of the run, this circuit only serves ceiling light fixtures. Two lights work, but anything beyond them is out. When the initial failure occurred, the lights flickered and have since blinked on/off for a split second intermittently. I have pulled cover plates for the light switches and all neutrals, with the exception of the ones that work, indicate they are hot when I use my lighted/toned tester. I have begun removing ceiling fixtures to examine wiring inside the ceiling boxes, but am hopeful there might be an easier way to check for a loose neutral. Thanks for your time and valued advice.
Great explaining you sir should be a teacher.
be a teacher to tell that the N has 120V on it ???
The other option it’s when shared power outlets and light outlets. A loose neutral could make lights flickering or not working. To found it, you need a tracer
thank you very helpful keep the videos coming thanks.
Super helpful and to the point, thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, and you’re welcome.
Yeah, most of the loads in my ckt are lights, smoke detectors, and two outlets. As soon as I turn on any light(or add any load) in the ckt, the breaker trips. And those smoke detectors are upstairs and downstairs with one light upstairs. In other words the ckt runs all over the house so I have to figure out what's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc from the box. And then there's how the wiring is done...is it from the box to the load then to the switch, or from the box to the switch then load? Also, you have to "assume" the builders used accepted standards for wiring...black/red for hot, white for neutral, and bare copper or green for ground. This video does help me understand and gives me a way to test. Thanks
OK, I found my problem and it is now fixed.
I didn't know if the disconnected neutral could have been anywhere in the circuit (NO). The only outlets that are affected are the one that has the problem as well as the ones downstream from the problem. It really helps to know which way the outlets are connected from the electrical panel to the last outlet on the circuit.
I wish you would have made that more clear in your video by disconnecting the neutral from the 3rd outlet and showing that you have a good circuit at the 1st AND 2nd outlet, and the problem is with the 3rd and 4th outlets.
I'm glad you were able to find the problem. I appreciate the feedback. I will try to make another video and make sure to point out what you are suggesting.
A very good explanation. Thank you !
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful. Thanks!
Lol. Plug a tester in. Next level advice here. 🤦♂️🤣😅
And the fact that he said at 1:05 the Neutral had 120V on it ...
I use a volt-meter to test my outlets.
H to N = 0V
H to G = 120V = open Neutral
OR
H to N = 120V
H to G = 0V = open ground
I had a friend that needed me to come over and see the problem with his wiring. The appliance’s such as the refrigerator etc would cause a voltage drop on one hot leg and the other would spike up such as 56v on one side and 178v on the other side. After all the trouble shooting for couple of days l had them to call the power company and the lady run a test over the phone which showed there was no problem on there end so I trouble shooted again at the panel box a couple more days and still had the same problem. So I had the power company to come out and check from the transformer back to the meter and they couldn’t find anything loose but they didn’t open the meter box and was going to leave until I got there. I had them to remove the meter and there was the problem a loose neutral bus bar and partially melted hot leg coming in from the street! Problem solved after all that! So if anyone is having this problem I would recommend doing this first before all the inside troubleshooting besides it’s a free service from the power company! By doing this first it could save the house from catching on fire and save the life of someone!
My guess is that in your friends house some circuits maybe wired as multi-wire branch circuits as yhat would explain the voltage going over 120v and the 56v drop from bad/loosd connection.
So your friend actually had a problem that I consider a lost neutral, and not a disconnected neutral. I have a totally different video on the lost neutral. Lost neutrals can certainly cause a lot of problems and damage equipment inside the home. Here is a link to that video. ua-cam.com/video/S3dvzOZm-58/v-deo.htmlsi=8tbL_PIZcRw7USf0
very informative , a big help thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks! Super helpful! I’m glad you included the GFCI info because that was my problem!! Liked and subscribed
Great. Glad it helped. Thanks for subscribing.
Fabulous. The light in my wife's office died, turns out the neutral is connected. This happened after we reworked some wall switches in another room. We must have disconected the neutral.
Yes. I would say that is correct.
Check for loose neutrals also, they cause flickering lights, found my loose neutral at the main breaker box, it was arching intermittently at the neutral screw because it was loose, it melted about half way through the wire!
Thanks for the comment. Good advice. Always like hearing about other people’s experiences because I learn from each one.
So I'm getting low voltage throughout my whole house. My refrigerator won't run; lights are working but flicker when I turn fan on. I tested many of the receptacles and breaker boxes with meter and all that seems to be reading fine. Any help would be appreciated. Ty.
To me it sounds like you have a lost neutral rather than an open neutral. A loss neutral is where your neutral becomes disconnected or has a poor connection before your breaker panel. I have a separate video on lost neutrals. I would suggest you check the voltage before and after turning on a fairly heavy load such as a microwave or something like that. This test works best if you turn on a heavy 120-V load, rather than a 240-V load. If you get a voltage change of say 10 to 20 volts, I would definitely say you have a lost neutral. You did say that you have measured low voltages. With a lost neutral you should have some outlets reading high voltage, as well. With this lost neutral, your high and low voltages should add up to somewhere around 240 or 250 V. In other words, if you have low voltage of 90 V, for example, you should have a voltage on the other leg of your electrical service of about 150 V. If you do indeed only have low-voltage everywhere and no high-voltage anywhere, then the problem is not a lost neutral. I would suggest contacting your electric company at that point.
I will definitely be interested to hear the final results of what you find. If you want to comment again and give me further details after you do this additional testing, that would be great.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Thank you for the reply!
Let me see if I can explain this a little bit better: Last year I started noticing some fluctuations with my fans; sometimes they would go too slow and sometimes they would go too fast; all my major appliances were working fine at the time. I called the power company and they checked things on their end; they replaced a couple things and also said some mice got into my outside breaker box. After that, my power was working fine for the next 9 months without me doing anything.
Last month, I came home from an appointment, I heard my refrigerator kick on, and at the exact same time, a surge protector behind my TV fried/started smoking. I changed surge protectors, it fried the second one. I started having fluctuations with fans again, and when I turned on my skillet, it blew an overhead light bulb.
The electrician came over, tested the outside breaker box and the inside breaker box; all readings were correct. I proceeded to show the electrician that I was having fluctuations in power; the electric weed wacker was either not hardly turning or turning way too fast. The outdoor receptacle was getting a high reading, at times. The electrician suggested that I replace the outdoor breaker box and the 100 amp breaker. I said ok, ordered the parts, but the electrician never came back.
Without me doing anything, the electricity seemed to be working normal again for almost a month. I hooked up a couple surge protectors to be on the safe side. I'm patiently waiting for the electrician to return...
Now to the present, or just a couple days ago, I get woken up by my fan kicking into overdrive. I go out to the kitchen and turn off the refrigerator. I turn on my Skillet and instantly my bedroom surge protector gets fried.
The power company comes over, checks behind the outdoor meter, notices some corrosion, but the readings were coming back correct. My friend then took the volt meter, tested my inside breaker box but couldn't find any issues with the readings. All the receptacles are reading around 120, but none of the receptacles will run anything more than a fan or a light.
So now, I have no refrigerator or skillet to cook with. My well pump and hot water (heat pump) seem to be working okay, thank goodness. I think that explains it. I'm not very familiar with these types of things, and it feels very foreign to me. I would appreciate more of your advice, if you don't mind. You look and sound very scientific. The experiments look cool, I just can't understand them completely. Thank you sir!
Thanks it was a good video
Appreciate the feedback.
Super helpful thank u
You're welcome.
Really helpful! Thank you!
So helpful! Thank you!
Thank you for your video
On my way to try it your way...
Thanks agin .....
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
Thanks that explains a little more about my questions. But can you have a hot ground reverse?
It is possible to have a hot ground reverse, but it is highly unlikely to have one.
Excelente vídeo
Me suscribiré
Thank you. Grazie! Gracias.
Thank you!
That’s fine for one circuit, but I have 4 independent circuits all showing a hot-neutral reverse even after I have remove all but one circuit breaker. The neutral bus bar in the main box is sharing all the shunt, I guess. The fault displays when nothing is plugged in but I have a GFCI receptacle in 2 of the 4 circuits. So far one is removed. All I can do is completely (hot, neural & ground) disconnect each circuit in the fuse box to isolate which circuit is the problem. This is in a modern wired system working for 5 year, then one afternoon - poof. No breakers tripped. I suspect a mouse. But thanks.
Great video!
Where do I find a three light tester like you used and how much should it cost?
You can find them at any hardware store and probably even at Walmart. You should be able to find one for $10-$20.
Thanks Mike!
My problem is in the basement between the outlet and the breaker panel. How do I find that?
So you’re sure it’s not at the breaker panel or at the outlet?
Great video, thanks!
Glad it was helpful.
I'm having issues with lights flashing and outlets not working but putting out less voltage. For example I cant use my tv if the modem and router are both plugged in. Sometimes I can have both router and modem plugged in and it works but I can't use the lights anywhere else , then sometimes it only works when I have a light on. The issues seem mainly in the living room and kitchen but also have happened throughout out the entire house. Then sometimes when I turned breakers on/off the lights for the wrong breaker went on and off. I replaced a broken outlet and a loose one in the living room. I also replaced the main breaker and everything worked great for a few hrs then bam everything went out in the living room now back to square one. Pretty sure I have a loose connection somewhere but I can't find it. Also when I used the plug in tester I got the 2 correct red lights but in about 6 or so plug outlets I got the correct 2 red lights but the red lights were very dim instead of bright. And on 2 outlets that were installed upside down I got the reverse light on tester.
I told this guy he made a mistake on his video and he argued with me and refused to tell me that i was wrong and shut me off.
Don't expect an answer from him
great video
Any pointers on finding an open neutral on a circuit solely compsed of lights?
My first thought would be that all of the lights upstream of the disconnected neutral should work, while those located after the disconnected neutral will not work. This should help significantly in narrowing down where the neutral is disconnected.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 - I must have a different problem. Thanks for your reply.
thank you very much but I have a question, in my case I have 7 outlets have open neutral and nothing working attach to them, would this be the circuit breaker? because when I used the ohmmeter I got that all 7 neutral connected but not connected to the main box in the garage
It could be at the breaker box, or it could be in a junction box in the attic. It all depends on how they wired the house.
believe it or not , I found the 8th outlet was attached and it was the one that needs to be changed. I just do not believe that there are 8 outlet connected to each other@@morganinspectionservices3840
Can a bad neutral be upstream of the transformer?
Actually, you don’t have a neutral until downstream of the transformer. But if you have a bad neutral somewhere between the transformer and your home, then that’s falls under the category of “lost neutral.“ I have a separate video on that. An open neutral will be somewhere after your electric panel.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Thanks for your help, I found the bad neutral, it was where it bolted to the transformer, it was very loose it you pull and push on the wire and it would slide back and forth, I tightened it a couple turns. As loose as it was it only acted up occasionally.
You were able to do that yourself at the transformer? That is surprising. But I’m glad you found the problem. I recently helped someone else who had a bad connection at his transformer. The electric company came out and repaired it for him.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Yes , I did it myself I do tree work so I had a tall ladder, I had the electric company out back a month ago they said the problem was on me side.
What about actually using certified instruments? You plug in a CAT 3 multimeter and you get 60-ish volts on the neutral as it runs next to live and PE. You know it's disconnected somewhere and it's floating. That's the 15 dollar solution and everyone can do it. If you actually do inspections or electrical work, then you should have a meter capable of line and earth loop impedance measurements that literally tell you everything on a push of a button and will tell you if the connection is made but it's bad in the form of ohms. This whole thing with indicator lamps and all is a total waste of time and never should even be considered.
Brother... I will like any readings you do for study because that was super smart stuff 😊... informative
Thank you great info
Thanks. Hope it helped.
Simple thank. You
You’re welcome
Excellent video! The question I have is why would the tester indicate “hot/neutral reverse”? Plugging in the drill connects the hot (black) wire to one wire of the drill. Since the neutral is open current cannot flow thru the drill so the other wire of the drill (white wire) is at 120V potential. Basically, BOTH the black and white wire are at 120V. This is not a reverse polarity- it’s a “hot on both conductor “ situation. I would think the tester could detect that condition & have a specific light pattern to indicate that. Is my reasoning correct? I generated a schematic that shows what you demonstrated in this video and it basically shows a load across the receptacle with one wire (the neutral) disconnected- so both the black and white are at 120V potential. This isn’t a “reverse” situation. If I’m incorrect please tell me.
I realize this is a very delayed response, but I did not see your comment. We are not getting a hot/neutral reverse indication on the tester. We are getting a hot/ground reverse indication on the tester. This is exactly for the reason that you describe. The tester sees that the hot and the neutral are at the same voltage, and that the ground is at a different voltage. This is a deficiency of these testers. When it sees that configuration, it calls it a hot/ground reverse. It assumes that the ground is hot and that the hot and the neutral are at 0 V. While in actuality, the hot and neutral are at 120 V, and the ground is at 0 V.
What if there is still power detected in the outlets after turning the circuit breaker off at the panel? When I try plugging a night light intoi the outlet, it doesnt light up. But I read voltage present with my non contact voltage detector. I try both the klein and greely no contact voltage testers that I have. The problem started the day before thanksgiving I was using an instapot on one outlet, and an air fryer on the other outlet on the counter. Power went out. I reset the breaker and it didnt come back. My fridge and stove are both on that circuit. I tested outlets and initially they were showing hot/grnd refersed. After watching your video I came with the same results you were with load applied. Now showing open neutral. I have checked all the outlets starting with the one the air fryer was using when everything went out there is one outlet farther away from the breaker panel. the next going toward the panel is the one for the fridge. then moving toward the panel there is a junction box of sorts that is behind the cabinetry that was installed a few years ago. It looks as if it was left there and just ran travellers to where the fridge is located. (only 3 feet or so away from the breaker panel, Then there is one more outlet that is above the stove and one below it that is used only by the stove. My question is that there is more than one of those boxes that only have one set of wires coming into the box Why would that be:? isnt a home run usally straight from the breker panel all the way furthest from the panel and starts powering the circuit from that oultlet and moving back toward the breaker panel? Please I need help. It is Tuesday and I am still without power for my fridge as well as my range/oven sine wednesday before thanksgiving.
Any help is MUCH MUCH appreciated.
Hi Eric. A home run typically runs to the outlet closest to the panel and then subsequent outlets are fed from that outlet in a daisy chain. If you are saying that there are several outlets that only have one set of wires coming into the box, then, perhaps you have a junction box with the hot wire coming in and then several wires going from that junction box to feed individual outlets/receptacles.
So with every load unplugged, are you still getting the hot/ground reversed indication?
If you have a flaky neutral at the circuit-breaker box, would the symptoms be something like: GOOD apparent reading on entire circuit - until a load, which then does the same reading as you have. ALSO, I have 4 breakers that seem to be cross-wired or something. For example, circuit two shows fine until I enable circuit one - then I get either a red-off-amber or even red-amber-amber. This happens only on one side of the panel. Very frustrating tracking it down.
Thats a great point, a loose N at the panel will probably show good until there is a load on it.
While it may read 120V at the outlet, you put a load on it and it won't pass current.
We had a 240V dryer line show 240V and 120V on each leg but would not run the dryer.
Apparently there was some resistance on that cable and would not allow current to flow but let the voltage thru. Took 2 appliance repair guys and 2 trips back to the appliance store to verify the dryer WAS working.
Switched receptacle at my furnace is giving me troubles. Will work fine for weeks at a time then just stop receiving power. Tester shows Hot/Ground reverse when switched on. Normal when switched off. Is it something as simple as crossed wires? Or should I just buy a new switched receptacle and replace it. If you play with the switch repeatedly. The light on the furnace board will get a split second of juice every now and then.
From what I am understanding you are saying, it could be a bad switch/receptacle. I would replace that and see if that corrects the problem.
I have a problem with the wiring in my garage which tests as an open neutral. I'm confused about why putting a load on the circuit helps find the open neutral. Wouldn't the tester show open neutral after the break instead of plugging in a load and the tester shows hot/ground reversed after the break? I can see if you tested and the tester showed hot/ground reversed that it would not necessarily be a hot/ground reversed and might be an open neutral. I would appreciate any help.
Putting a load on the circuit doesn’t necessarily help find an open neutral - it just changes the indication that your tester gives you. If you’re having problems in your garage, and there are several receptacles that are daisychained together, then your tester should help you to determine where the problem actually starts.
Thanks !
Hope it was helpful.
I'm looking for a lost nuetral from switch box to switch box. Thinking I will have to turn off the circuit and ring out the neutrals with my multimeter.(ohm them out)
I’m curious. Were you able to solve your problem?
@@morganinspectionservices3840 yes thank you. I had a neutral slip out of a wire nut at last switch box go figure.
I wish my 70 year old home came with a wiring schematic.
Wouldn’t that be nice!!!
This is all fine and dandy, but my missing neutral outlet is on the END OF THE RUN. Sure sucks to be me.
So it’s between the last outlet and the next to the last outlet?
@@morganinspectionservices3840 That would be my guess. I have a feeling a light fixture is involved. It's in a 1988 kitchen, 4 or 5 outlets, and a light are on the circuit. The outlet is definitely the last on the run. Only one set of wires going to it. Thanks!
So at how many of these outlets do you get the hot/ground reverse reading?
@@morganinspectionservices3840 NONE.. Everything else works just fine. I guess if I had to pick a dead plug, it would be the last one on the circuit. It can't effect anything else. lol
will switches cause this problem too?
Yes. Switches can be part of the problem.
How do you find an open live or an open neutral with knob and tube wiring? The problem splice could be anywhere hidden behind the walls.
It may not be a bad splice. It could just be a damaged wire. Even so, back in the day, I don’t think they were putting splices in walls, so the large majority of splices should be in the attic. I would think about the best you can do is use the procedure shown to isolate as closely as possible the location of the open neutral. Once you do that, I would verify that you have a good neutral in the attic that may be running down to the affected outlet. If you do have a good neutral, then the problem may very well be in the wall. At this point, the best thing to do may be just to fish a new wire to the “bad“ outlet.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 That's what I normally do. I abandon the K&T as much as possible, and I run new romex to the receptacles in question. The only problem is that sometimes the customer doesn't want to pay extra for it.
Is there a way to do this test with a multimeter?
Yes, it is possible. The three light tester simply acts like three multimeters. You would just have to check the voltage between all three combinations of two slots on the receptacles. If you have proper voltage between the hot/ground and the hot/neutral slots, then this indicates a properly wired receptacle. When your tester shows voltage between the neutral and ground, and between the ground and hot, then this is the same as the hot/ground reverse indication on the tester.
I have 3 lights operating on one switch 2 porch lights and a security light. The porch lights work fine. The security light however has 50VAC between black & ground and neutral and ground. What to do?
Is it possible that you have a load connected in series with the security light that is causing a voltage drop? If not this, then I would start by visibly tracing the wire looking for a problem and look at all connections.
Well you didn't show how to find the open N but you showed how to troubleshoot to identify an open N and you isolated it between the 1st and 2nd outlets ...
That’s correct. I showed how to narrow down the location of the open neutral. There’s no way for me to cover every possible cause of an open neutral. It could have come loose from one of the receptacles. A rat could’ve chewed through the wire, I suppose. A nail could have gone through the neutral and opened it up. Once you narrow it down between two receptacles/outlets, you’ve just got to start following the wire and checking connections and things.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Well you DID have a setup there, you COULD have created an open somewhere to track down and show how you tracked it down. Would not take long between 2 outlets ...
@@ACommenterOnUA-cam That’s exactly what I did in the video. I created an open neutral between the first and second receptacles and showed how to isolate it between those two receptacles. There’s not much more I can do to show how to find it inside a wall other than to say what I said towards the end of the video. Are you suggesting I create an open neutral on an actual outlet in my home and then show how to track it down? If that’s what you’re suggesting, then yes, I could have and still could do that.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 What you did and what you showed where the actual open was is a different story.
You said your open was between the 1st and 2nd outlet. THATS IT ...
You didn't find the exact open, it could have been AT the socket or in the wire itself between the two sockets due to rodents or corroded or loose wire nuts ...
What you did in your video was isolated the open between 2 points, not actually physically finding the open.
Your title said how to FIND a disconnected N, you didn't find it, you isolated it between 2 points. You never showed the actual OPEN N anywhere ...
What you SHOULD have done was opened the 2 sockets to expose the open N and say, HERE IS MY OPEN whether it was at the socket connection or inside the wire itself ...
@@ACommenterOnUA-cam You are talking about splitting hairs. Get real, You Tube. Btw, what an appropriate name you have... 😂
What type of tester is that
It’s typically called a receptacle tester, or a three-light receptacle tester.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 thanks
Would a ground have voltage across it after a GFCI
The ground should never have any voltage on it, unless there’s a problem with the wiring.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I found a break in the ground put my meter from one side to the other and had 48v in-between .
2:16 this works great if the electrician wired the house up in a manner that makes sense. If this was done back in the late 20th century it would be very difficult to find.
4:50 thank you
Thanks.. good point
You're welcome
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Be honest I just follow the process you did in your video and I found the bad box and that electrical box coming directly from electrical panel and same time that electrical box supplies electricity to other 10 boxes , So I take care that electrical box and happy family , we got power back to the rest of the electrical boxes. Thanks.
1:05
That white wire does NOT have 120V ... Thats the Neutral, just flows current, has no potential on it.
It has 120 volts on it when the drill is plugged in and the trigger is pulled. I didn’t want the neutral wire becoming live while still exposed, so I put the wire nut on it in advance.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Well thats NOT what you said in the video and the drill was NOT plugged in.
You said the N has 120V on it BEFORE you plugged in the drill so you gave out a false statement.
You could have disconnected the N and not get shocked because it does NOT have 120V on it ...
And next where you going to plug in the drill and turn it ON and touch that N to get shocked while recording ?? NO ...
You either don’t understand or you like to argue. I’m not going to argue with you or explain it further to you. Goodnight.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I don't understand that you made an incorrect statement in your video ???
No i understand 100% that you made an incorrect statement and you refuse to correct yourself but want to blame ME for your mistake ...
Thank you
You’re welcome
How about switches?
Switches can be part of the problem as well.