What is a Hot Ground Reverse?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- So your three-light outlet tester is telling you that you have a hot ground reverse. Chances are that your three light tester is wrong because it is almost never a real hot-ground reverse.
What is a hot ground reverse?
One of the few common light configurations on a three-light tester is one that is labeled as a “Hot-Ground Reverse,” but it almost never is. A hot/ground reverse is a very rare situation that would be very difficult (and dangerous) to achieve. However, it is not too difficult to achieve a totally different wiring configuration that can cause a 3-light tester to give the indication of a hot-ground reverse. This video shows how a fairly simple problem with the wiring can give the hot-ground reverse indication. I will also give you some tips to help you to locate and repair the problem causing it.
The actual problem is almost certainly a disconnected neutral somewhere in your home. Here is a link to another video that shows how to find where that disconnected neutral is.  • How to Find a Disconne...
00:00:00 - Introduction/Correctly Wired Outlet
00:00:54 - Hot Ground Reverse Indication
00:02:21 - What is Hot Ground Reverse?
00:02:47 - 3 Light Testers Not Always Reliable
See my blog at morganinspectionservices.com/...
I had this exact problem in my house today. The electrician went on a hunt for crossed wires. I pulled up this video saw the neutral break and then I went on a hunt for a break in the neutral; found it and fixed the problem myself. The electrician was here for five hours and the fix was as simple as tightening the neutrals in a junction box. He was about to have me replace all my outlets in a bedroom and rerun all the wire. I feel a mixture of triumph and dismay. Mostly, I'm glad I was able to identify the problem and avoid a lot of unnecessary expense by watching a video in about 4 minutes.
Great, to the point, video!
Wow! I guess some electricians don’t know about this “flaw” with these outlet testers. I am glad you were able to quickly fix the problem.
I have that problem but I don't understand why it was working like that all this time till now
You solved the mystery that was haunting me all night.. I’m motivated to go back in with my meter now
Good luck.
By FAR the best explanation of this situation.
Thank you.
Thank you for going extra steps to demonstrate with a mockup tool. You have got a new subscriber.
I had heard of this issue with that type of receptacle tester, but didn't understand until I saw your video. Thank you for posting such a clear example!
Glad it helped
My entire bedroom and living room was reading this and I changed every outlet. So good to know it isn't the breaker and there is a broken neutral.
This video unlocked the solution to my problem. I installed a window AC unit, plugged it in, and it ran for a minute and then shut off. Slowly I began to realize all the outlets and lights in the room were dead. My outlet tester indicated hot/ground reverse, which completely confused me until watching this video.
At first I suspected the GFCI breaker, because I had recently moved locations in the beaker panel, redoing the wire connections in the process. It all checked out.
The last component I touched on the circuit was replacing a bathroom vent fan, so naturally I suspected a problem with a connection there. Into the attic I climbed, and my twist nuts looked fine to me, but I replaced them with Wago connectors just to be certain, especially since I was connecting stranded and solid cores. That wasn't it...
I tore apart all but 1 outlet and switch (8 outlets and 12 switches) in the bedroom and bathroom before finding the culprit. Had I thought a little harder, I would have known to start there, because the lights were working in the bathroom despite being on the same breaker circuit as the non-functioning outlets in the bedroom.
As I pulled the wiring out, the wire nut holding 5 neutral wires came off with almost no force and some of the wires came apart. One of them was stranded while the others were solid. I used a Wago to connect them all.
During reassembly of all my switches and outlets, I took the opportunity to convert all the backstab connections to the side screws. Too many issues with backstabs burning for me to be comfortable with that.
Anyhow, thanks for the video Mike!
Sounds like quite the ordeal tracking it down. I am glad my video was helpful for you. I appreciate the comment/info on your experience. Maybe someone else can learn from it.
Trying to diagnose an issue with same indicators per your test light. Glad to have your input that the issue is more than likely a loose or disconnected neutral somewhere. Am going to start checking for that in the general area to see if I can find the problem. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Tim C Good luck. I’d be curious to hear what you find.
You are awesome Mike. Thanks for explaining what my plug tester is telling me. Just a wow job you did. Hope I can find more videos telling me how do you go about trying to fix the issue.
Glad to help
You have just saved me ! I was looking for reversed since yesterday.. now looked for OPEN return ! You are right , fixed the open neutral and all good now
So glad my video helped you. I appreciate the feedback.
I’m having this problem. Oh the fun I’m having looking for the bad connection. Thanks for the education!
Good luck to you.
Had this indicator on an outlet in a chain that went to a motion detector/light and it helped me determine exactly what was wrong. Thank You!
So glad the video helped.
Great video. Thank you, you solved my issue. I now know exactly where the neutrals in my situation got disconnected.
Glad it helped
Thank you very much. I've had an exterior light and a few outlets not working and some on the circuit test hot/ground reversed. Recently found a wire inside a wall that appears to have been cut by a drywall saw. Open neutral. Hoping the repair will fix my light and outlets.
Thank you for the visual and easy to understand explanation. Solved my issue in a few minutes thanks to your video. Just a loose neutral on a pigtail.
Glad it helped!
Great video! Bravo. Especially because this scenario is the vast majority of cases.
Thank you.
Just helped a friend with this issue. Previous homeowner had installed a hidden GFCI that was wired backward (hot on neutral, neutral on hot) and when it tripped, broke the neutral instead. I knew it was an open neutral, just couldn’t figure out why the outlet tester showed this. It makes sense now! They had a ceiling fan on the circuit that was in the ‘on’ position.
Thanks for this video. I had recently installed a new outdoor GFCI outlet on our patio and it worked for a few weeks then stopped working. I used my line tester on it and it came back with a "Hot-Ground Reverse" error. After watching this video I pulled the outlet to find that the neutral wire had indeed broken. It was a simple fix and now everything is back to normal.
Great. I’m glad the video was helpful. Thanks for the feedback.
Quick explanation. Found the problem. Thank you.
Glad it helped.
Your video answered my question perfectly. I thought the same thing (that it just can't be a reversed hot/ground) when trying to trouble shoot the problem, but I wasn't aware that the tester gave this particular signal for the broken neutral circuit. Thank you, you saved me from a lot of work.
Great!! So, were you able to find and fix the problem?
Ive commented on a few yt vids but dont know where to find a reply
@@morganinspectionservices3840
Thank for the video. Im in the process of hunting down the culprit of my hot ground reverse. After adding a junction box for new outlets. The new outlets test fine and the old ones are testing hot ground reverse.
Found the problem, thanks to this video.
So glad it was helpful!
Great job explaining this. I have always wondered about that.
Thank you! Glad it was helpful.
Very informative. The load must be turned on, as stated, to receive a shock
on an open neutral. Kirchhoff's voltage law for series circuits. You are in series
with the other load. Did not know about the plug in tester giving misinformation. A big thank you.
Thanks for the feedback.
Excellent video and content. This caused me to double check my wires, to the outlets and one white wire I failed to connect to the outlet itself.
Thanks
Thanks
You are a good teacher my friend! Thanks!
I appreciate that!
White from lamp to bare ground working in an apartment I'm rehabbing. I changed the panel today and went through all the wires. Before changing the panel, ground was hot, neutrals were hot. Double checked and Separated everything (why do people insist on taking 2 minutes to tie the grounds together, when it only takes 5 minutes to put them all separately) and viola! No more hot grounds. I still have to troubleshoot a little more, but I'm sure it's a spot I left the neutrals untied in for tracing and I was a bit tired to finish so I just left those breaker off. Right now I'm getting exactly what's depicted with plugging a light into the outlet with the tester at the same time. I had a feeling it was that open neutral I know I left. Total of 4 lamps were working without neutral off just hot and neutral to ground.
This was very helpful. I had four receptacles on one 20A breaker and no power out of and receptacle. I opened them all and found a broken ground that was hot. This video helped me understand why. Thanks so much!
Glad it helped
What does broken ground mean ? The ground wire was cut somewhere ?
Thank you, very helpful and informative
So glad I was able to help.
Thank you so much. Im a bit out of practice and that damn legend on the tester had me so confused on a plug i wired up.
Well, I hope it helped and that you were able to get it wired correctly.
Great explanation. Checked the wiring on the GFCI and found the neutral had wiggled loose. Resetting the push connection and tighten down all connections. Everything works again without having to replace the GFCI outlet. Thanks!
That’s great. I’m glad the video helped.
This,THIS! Awesome, exceedingly helpful!!! God Bless you, Brother‼️‼️‼️‼️😀🤘❤️
Very helpful, I know what to look for now.!
I am glad I was able to help.
Good to know. Thank you for your video.
thank you for the EXCELLENT explanation. and I also thought that there was no way they were actually reversed and thought I had bad testers. Now time to go hunt for my loose neutral.
I’m glad the video was helpful. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you so much, Sir!!!
You’re welcome
thanks , I have just that wiring an outlet to a time , luckily I googled and found your vid , now to figure out where I went wrong !
Glad I could help.
Super helpful, thank you!
You're welcome.
You can also get the reading from a light switch turned on.
Thank you so much! You saved me a big headache!
Glad it helped!
Jeepers! Thanks Mike. I was going nuts trying to figure out how I could reversed these wires! Now to find that open neutral! 😮
I hope you find it quickly. Let me know what you find, please.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Hi Mike,
I found part of my issue. Stupid me, I misinterpreted what the original electrician had done back in 1990. I’ve fixed the mistakes I made.
Still have one circuit with an open neutral that’s affecting numerous plugs and lights. Found the breaker. But have yet to find the break in the neutral. 🤷♂️
Excellent video, good information 👍👍👍👍
Thanks 👍
Very helpful. Thank you!!
You're welcome!
I just finished working on my sons home they just purchased. The inspector noted a weird sub panel and a few receptacles with hot neutral reversal. The 60 amp feeder in the Main panel board was connected black L1, red L2, white neutral/ ground bar, bare neutral/ground bar. In the MLO panel connections were black neutral bar, red L1, white L2, bare to ground bar. There were circuits connected to breakers 3,4,7,8,11,12. So, all of the L2 positions with the white wire connected. After testing and revising the feeder to be correct, all but two receptacles tested reverse wired. Black on silver white on brass. The original installer had reversed them to look correct. So, power was from neutral bar, to devices on white, back to panel on black to breaker. This installation was done over 20 years ago and been that way the whole time. Horrible that anyone would do this!
Thanks buddy 👍
Ok. The outlet is working fine, but the tester indicated a hot and neutral reversal. And you're right the first thing I thought of was that the wires were likely reversed at the other end. I'm going to just leave things the way they are since it's all working like it should. I only found it when I was checking all the outlets to see if they were correctly grounded. Some were and some weren't but I was able to fix those.
It's not a good idea to leave a hot/neutral reverse in the home - especially as easy as it normally is to correct it.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thank you SO much.
I am replacing a normal outlet with one that has USB built into it.
I got a Hot Ground Reversed and not NO CLUE how that was even possible!!
Did you get the hot/neutral reverse before or after you replaced the outlet?
Perfect I needed this
Glad it was helpful.
Thank you! The neutrals in one outlet were never tightened (new home) causing my problem.
Glad it helped
Very helpful thank you
You're welcome!
Thank you this video was excellent it was very helpfull.it help me solve the issue.
You’re welcome. So glad it was helpful.
Great videos!
Thank you
Thank you master
I have a small vintage travel trailer and I replaced a cheap wall lamp with something nicer looking. Had no switch so I installed one on the lamp. Didn't realize that the insulation was brittle, and it shorted out against the new mounting bracket. Took it apart, electric taped the wires and reinstalled it. The lamp now works with the switch, but the receptacle downline shows a "PWR/GND REV" and isn't providing power.
You said this can be dangerous. I'm living in this thing. Any suggestions? I replaced the original receptacle with a GFI receptacle, still reads PWR/GND REV.
Very helpful thankyou very much
Glad it helped
Thank you so much
Good teacher
You are welcome
Needed this video
Hope it helped.
I have an outdoor outlet in the middle of the yard with a hot ground reverse. it's been like that for years, and I can't figure it out. I started to carefully dig up the wire going to it to see where it goes, it's a gray direct burial cable that disappears into a large rose bed, which I can't dig up. I can only assume it keeps going straight, which would put it going into the corner of the foundation. I've looked up into the basement ceiling, but don't see it coming in any joists. Kind of stuck there. The odd thing is the outlet used to work fine maybe 10yrs ago. 🤷
Thank you for the video it’s the best explanation I have found, every outlet I have has the hot ground lights, found a power share switch that was burned, left all the wires open until I get a replacement, been testing every outlet and still getting hot reverse from the outlets, what am I doing wrong? Will appreciate some guidance
Please and thank you
I’m sorry for the delayed response, but I’ve been very busy. You have replaced the switch already or have not replaced the switch already? I’m trying to understand exactly what the situation is at the moment that you are getting the hot ground reverses still.
Thank you
Very informative..
Learned something I didn't know.
But still wonder why / what causes a electrical wire to have power when breaker is off. 😮
It will not have electrical power when the breaker is off. The neutral wire will have power when you have a combination of an open neutral, and a switch turned on which allows the voltage to travel through the hot wire, through the device and to the neutral wire. Definitely no power with the breaker off, though.
should we remove all the plugged appliances and all lights turned off during testing in order to get accurate test readings using this outlet tester? many thanks in advance for your input.
Excellent information ! I have an overhead light that went out. Replaced the switch- still out checked wires at light - (ground wire nut burnt out) replaced, but can not get proper power to hot and neutral. And the ground wire is hot ! Could it be an open neutral somewhere up the line ?
Sorry. I missed your comment from a couple of weeks ago. The ground wire is actually hot? It’s not the neutral wire that’s hot? An open neutral is not going to cause a ground wire to be hot, but will cause the neutral wire to be hot. A hot ground wire is a pretty serious and rare problem. Since it has been two weeks, you very well may have already solved this already. If so, I would be very interested to hear what you found.
Thank you sir you just save me!!!
I thought about a tester indicating Hot/Gnd Rev and looking for the ground within my house. I knew your hilarious at the point in a video. When you had said, "There's no such thing," no way am I going to locate any green ground wire. Accept this comment and remember the only ground wire outside is a hot ground in reverse to the line from a recepticle where the reading on a test plug in reveals those red and orange lights.
Thanks for the comment.
I got that reading from a similar tester when I touched the mounting screw to the box.
There is no ground wire.
Before touching the mounting screw to the box, I merely got "open ground" (which I expected).
Hopefully, it will be safe to use.
Put a gcfi on that receptacle, or change the breaker to a gcfi/acfi breaker
Similar issue - I get the two amber lights just fine - until I give it a load, then I get the red-off-amber indication. I assume that I have an intermittent neutral?
you just saved me a call to the electrician, thank you
Glad I could help
Great demo Mike. Thanks. I have a GFCI switch connected to 4 receptacles and one light in my bathroom.
GFCI tripped and I couldn't re-set it thereafter. I decided to replace the GFCI. I still cannot reset the GFCI after wiring.
The original wiring which has been there since 1997 is as follows: all hot (black wires) to receptacles are joined together and connected by a piggy to GFCI load (gold screw); and all white wires to receptacles are joined together and connected to GFCI "load" "stainless screw".
Then hot (black wire) from source (breaker) is spliced: (one piggy goes to GFCI "Line" (hot) and the other one to light); the white wire is also spliced and one piggy goes to GFCI Line (neutral) and the other one to the light.
When I use my tester on GFCI, both red and yellow lights of the tester illuminate - indicating "hot reverse neutral" - same applies to the other 3 receptacles. Do you know what causes such? Or how do you recommend I correct such a problem? Thank you.
I am slightly confused. You said after you replaced the GFCI that it would still not reset. If this is the case, how are you getting any reading when you plug in your tester?
If you have the black wires connected to the gold screw and the white to the silver screw, then you have wired it correctly. If it is wired correctly, and you are getting a reverse polarity indication, then maybe the wires supplying the outlet are backwards somewhere upstream. Do you have a non-contact voltage detector so you can see if the black wires are truly hot and the white wires are not hot?
@@morganinspectionservices3840 No, he said he's getting a Hot & Neutral Reverse, on the receptacle tester.. Would u know the answer? I to am curious.
Wow! Thanks!
No problem!
Your video is very helpful. Thank you. What happens when you have a hot and groung reverse and 120volts between neutral and ground wire which I know there should be no voltage there
You will have 120 volts between the neutral and ground wire with a hot/ground reverse or the open neutral situation described in this video. as a result of the open neutral and load turned on, the neutral will be energized to 120 volts, thus causing a 120-volt difference between the neutral and the ground.
Thanks for the helpful information. I was wondering what would the sure test meter by Ideal indicate in this test.
That is a great question. I will to a video where I compare readings on the three-light tester to what the Suretest shows. I will do that this week. Thanks for asking.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I look forward to seeing the test results. Thanks.
I tested this open neutral set up with the Suretest circuit analyzer. It was as if it was plugged into a dead outlet. The suretest did not light up at all. I was rather surprised by that, so I checked it with my spare Suretest and got the same result.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I watched an electrical you tube channel explain that the sure test by Ideal uses the neutral wire for its indicated functions and will not indicate an open neutral. surprises me the cheaper plug in tester will indicate an open neutral but the more expensive sure test will not.
My Tester showed Hot&Ground reversed because I had the white neutral wire going to the switch instead of the black hot wire. And from the switch I had a wire going from the other gold screw to the silver screw on the outlet.
Hi there, thank you for your video. I seem to be having this exact situation of having hot/grd rev on the tester. Mind you this is after I have slammed a gate onto an extension cord and shorted the power. I'm not an electrician but I'd like to give it a try to see if I can fix this. Can you provide some guidance as to where I should lookfor this problem?
I'm thinking I should just replace the outlet that perhaps I have fried the neutral wire?
So the outlet that is showing hot/ground reverse is the outlet where the extension cord is plugged in? Have you checked other outlets that may be on the circuit, and are you getting the same reading there or only on that one outlet?
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I found the problem! I fried the gfi outlet up the stream and had to pull the whole thing out to see that's partly melted on the back. Got a new one and replaced it and everything works now! Thanks again for a good inspiration video.
Job well done
thanks
Very good video! Totally helps !
What if someone upstream connected the white wire of the branch to the hot or black wire side of the upstream outlet? So the hot and the neutral side are both from the hot upstream. What would the indicator show?
If both the hot and neutral sides are connected to hot, the indicator would show that the receptacle is dead. This obviously could be quite dangerous because someone, thinking that there was no power to the receptacle, could potentially be shocked or electrocuted.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 , 9f course I think you are right I was just trying to imagine what would have caused this fault. ..
My situation was just as described with an open neutral.
I just didn't understand why it snowed a circuit between the neutral and ground when I really don't think anything was plugged in or connected after the open ground...
Thank you just the same, it really helped me find the "stab in the back" upstream outlet that caused my problems.
Yes sir I have a question, awesome video by the way. My sister's house is showing that problem, should reconnect the outlets I switched back to the way they were? The owners before them rigged a big thick extension cord to an outlet. Thanks much!
I am very sorry for the delayed response. Hope you've already solved it, but if not, let me know, and I will do what I can to help.
Thanks for clearing that up. How do I find the open neutral wire? The plugs was working until an appliance was plugged in (the appliance was never turned on) after 20 minutes the plug went dead. On the same circuit the refrigerator was working fine, then it died about 1 hour later.
Sounds like an odd situation to me. You need to work backwards and find the first outlet in the daisy chain. I would use my 3- light tester to see which outlets on that circuit are giving the hot/ground indication. If some do and some don’t, then you need to start with the first outlet that does not have power and go backwards from there looking for the bad neutral. If none of the outlets on that circuit have power, then I would start at the breaker panel and move forward looking for where the neutral is disconnected.
Thanks for the help. I worked backwards as you suggested. I found the culprit, it was a faulty receptacle that the neutral wire was slipping in and out contact in its "hole". After replacing the plug,all is good.
Thank you
You're welcome!
Hello one question I had three fans Each fans have another cable connected together Why
i woke up one morning and every plug and light on one breaker wont work. i reset breaker and gfci. still doesnt work. all of the plugs are showing hot ground reverse. i replaced gfi outside and now it wont light up at all. it had 3 wires and i installed it correctly. now when i plug in the tester it doesnt light up. i checked it and it is hot according to voltage tester. before i switched outside gfci it would light up as hot ground reverse and now only voltage tester lights up. maybe its cieling fan?
Man! You my savor! Thank you!
Glad to help
I live in a double wide. It was windy and cold when all the lights in the house started flickering.
After that a couple lights worked but every single one of my Outlets says hot ground reversed. It's crazy when I turn some lights on other lights on other circuits dim.
The switch that turns the light in the ceiling fan on in my bedroom is now hot in the down position.
The only two things in my house that have been working solid is the furnace and the hot water tank.
It is acting like a neutral wire is bad but it must be a main neutral wire because it's all of the outlets.
Upon inspecting underneath the trailer I have a pretty bad water leak.
Is there any chance that there is a main neutral wire? This electrical system is doing things that shouldn't happen😢.
I have LED lights that stay dimly lit even when the breaker is off!
It sounds like you have a lost neutral outside, and not a disconnected neutral inside your house somewhere. You might want to watch this video because a lot of the symptoms you are describing sound like a lost neutral. I’m not sure why you would be getting the hot ground reversed indication with a lost neutral, but check out this video because it sounds like that’s what you’re experiencing. ruclips.net/video/S3dvzOZm-58/видео.htmlsi=0ebm0K1JnrWnqpWY
Interesting...I just wired a GFCI and got this... I dont see how it can be my neutralwire disconnected. Before it didnt have wirenuts. They were attached to the pole, I installed a pigtail and now I am getting this reading.
I’m not sure what you mean by “attached to the pole.“. Are you sure you connected the neutral wire to the correct screw and the hot wire to the correct screw? Are you sure there was no problem with the previously-installed outlet? Everything was working before?
Thanks for the video. The outlets in my living room work fine and have for years. Until this afternoon. This morning they worked (the TV plugged into one of the outlets worked just fine) but then later this afternoon the TV wouldn't turn on when I tried. I tried the three-light outlet tester and it showed the "hot ground reverse" red/yellow lights. I tested all the outlets in the living room and they all had the same yellow/red light display but the rest of the house seems to be just fine. No circuit breaker is tripped and, as I mentioned, I'm puzzled because I don't know of anything that would have happened to have affected those outlets between this morning and this afternoon. If you have any ideas I'd be delighted to hear them. Thanks.
Sounds like that specific circuit has a bad neutral connection, meaning as all other circuits work just fine. Unscrew some faceplates and check neutrals on the outlet and other devices on that specific circuit.
@@jacobheater3496 I found it! One of the white pushed-in wires in the outlet had broken. Thanks a million for your video - it really helped me out!!!
Glad I could help.
I’m going through the same scenario right now. Every outlet in one of my rooms says hot and ground reverse. I’ll let you guys know if I’m able to fix it.
I was able to fix it thanks to this comment.
With an open neutral (upstream of the load), If you were to measure voltage between the "ungrounded" black and the "grounded" white conductor (at the receptacle) would the potential difference be zero? (Thanks for the video)
Yes, as long as you have a load plugged in and the load is turned on, the hot and neutral wires are essentially connected to each other through the load, so they will be at the same potential.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 thanks for the reply
What happens if you unplug the lamp? Will the tester light differently?
I got 2 plugs that randomly show hot ground rev on and off. 3 plugs that always show hot ground Rev. The same pen tool you have beeps when try them all. No power when testing g with a lamp. This happened before. But the problem went away on its own and now the problem is back. No power. The braker did not flip but I flipped it off and on anyways. That didn't help.
If all the outlets in a hous stop working and when u plug in the outlet tester and u see hot and ground reverse if a transformer involve it can also mean the neutural burn in the transformer too .
I’m sorry. I don’t completely understand your question - especially about the transformer. Can you ask it again?
What if when I plug the outlet tester in with nothing else plugged in, and the Hot/Grd. Reverse comes up on the indicator
Sorry for the very delayed response. Are you sure there’s nothing plugged into any other outlet on the entire circuit? If you are sure, then it could be a light that is on the circuit and turned on. Seeing how it’s been two months, did you already solve it? I would be curious to hear what you found.
How do you find the neutral disconnect on a string of wall plugs? Is the disconnect always on the 1st wall plug and the last wall plug? Or could the neutral disconnect can occur in between the 1st and last wall plug.
The disconnected neutral can be anywhere in that string of electrical outlets. Here’s another video I made that shows how to locate it. I hope this helps. ruclips.net/video/BVcNnBKfC8Q/видео.html
Thank you soooo much. The very 1st wall mount closest to the breaker was the culprit. The entire circuit had a hot and ground reverse. Your link to the other video explained why. As soon as I jiggle the very 1st wall plug the entire string was back to normal. I check the 1st plug and all was good. I think it's the surge protector on the 1st wall plug tripped something up. That is most likely the culprit. I learned something new from this exercise. Big 😊 thanks
I have a GFCI in my bathroom and when I plug in a GFCI tester it indicates open ground, then when I press the test button on the GFCI tester it indicates Hot/Neutral reversed and the GFCI outlet doesn't trip. I checked the wires and there is a grounding, bare copper wire, on the grounding green screw on the outlet, the black hot goes to the gold screw terminal on the outlet, and the white neutral goes to the silver screw terminal, so they are NOT reversed. Furthermore, I can't have an open neutral because all devices work in the GFCI outlet. I think the GFCI tester is really telling me I have an open ground. Please advise. Thank you.
Yes, it certainly sounds like you have an open ground. A GFCI tester will not trip an ungrounded outlet. You should disregard any reading you get on the tester when the test button is depressed. If you have a ground wire connected to the receptacle/outlet, then the ground wire is apparently not connected somewhere upstream of that outlet.
But can it happen and how would you fix it? I took the wires off before the outlet and tested with multimeter and when I tested the hot and neutral I had nothing. But when I moved the black probe over to the ground while touching the red probe to the hot wire the is 126 volts. I replaced the circuit breaker and I don't think there is any other outlets between the panel and the outlet that I disconnected. When I tested at the panel I touched red probe to the circuit breaker and the black to the neutral and had 126 v. Then I touched the red to the breaker and the black to the ground and I had 126 volts. Is that normal or is something wrong. It seems to be that way on every breaker in the panel. All my other outlets and switches are working fine. Have any thoughts? I'd call an electrician but there are none in this area anymore.
Also I don't know of any other switches or outlets between the panel and said outlet where I disconnected it
If you are getting nothing between hot and neutral, and 126 between hot and ground at an outlet, but everything tested normal at the panel, then you do have an open neutral between the panel and the outlet you are testing. It could be in an outlet upstream that you are unaware of, could be in a light switch box , or in a ceiling light. In some older homes they would run the power to the light, then drop down to outlets, then they would drop a 2 wire cable down to the switch and use the white as hot and the black as the switched hot. Or in some rare cases there could be a junction box, supposed to remain accessible meaning you legally cannot conceal it behind drywall or other permanent building materials, but you can never be sure of what was done by previous occupants, especially in older homes. Good luck
This is awesome. I have plugged in a vacuum and the vaccum "blew a fuse". I just switched outlets. Later went to reset the circuit breaker and nothing tripped. Bedroom circuit tho. Ceiling fan in bed room and bathroom light switch stopped working but all other outlets except two are working. Can't figure where the problem is. Any ideas?
Do you have an outlet tester, and are you getting the hot/ground reverse indication? If so, and even if not, the problem is going to be between the first outlet/light that is having a problem and the last outlet/light on the circuit that is working properly. Without knowing the set up of your home, I cannot tell you much more than that.
I had this Hot Ground reverse Reading on my GFCI LAST week... thunder and lightning Hit my irrigation system.. hit⚡ the solenoid ⚡hit relay..burn the Transformer.. knock the control panel off the wall..trip the GFCI AND the Breaker Box.the 20amp. Irrigation.Test the GFCI..showed a Ground Reverse Reading..
Replace the Old GFCI with a New GFCI..
The Reading was Back to Normal..
Are you saying all you had to do was replace the GFCI and it fixed it?
Hey so quick question I went through the testing of the cabling and everything and it said I had a hot ground reverse so I made sure to unplug everything for my outlets in my entire apartment I'm in an apartment by the way and it didn't seem to change so I turned off the circuit breaker for it and what I found out is that there is no ground cable connected to the outlet would that also give it a hot to ground reverse?
Do you have one or multiple receptacles showing hot/ground reverse? If your problem is indeed an open neutral somewhere upstream, it should not matter if the receptacle has a ground wire or not. The missing ground, by itself, would definitely not cause the hot/ground reverse reading.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 I only have the two outlets showing hot ground reverse. Before it is the bathroom outlets though and from the video I recall it could make the reading different.
Thank you for this. Question - Garage Sub panel, 60amp 2 pull feeding from main inside house. No GFI's in garage will allow you to reset, every plug reads reversed hot/ground. Checked sub's neutrals, all good there, checked main's neutrals, all good there. What in the world is going on here. Gonna read voltage tomorrow when I can grab my meter, but am I missing something..... thanks
This is a tough one. Before I think too hard, I want to ask if you have found out anything new in the week since you commented. If fix, please let me know what the problem was. If not fix, let me know any new info, and I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks,
@@morganinspectionservices3840 Unplugged other garage door opener on one circuit and tester showed open neutral. metered it at 60-70volts at sub. Main pnl and breaker was good so I figured a line was cut somewhere. Dug 4 holes 3.5ft down finally found it under my dad's deck where he auger'd the pole/cement holes. 1 hot and the neutral severed. And yes I slapped him.
Underground splice kits are a gift from God.
@@trevhummer9580 Interesting. Good job figuring that out. Sounds like it took quite a bit of work.
Hi still a little confused I’m getting the same reading in my mobile home half my house has no power we’ve had to replace one of the outlets when we moved in because of this and it fixed it so instinctually we changed the same outlet because it did infact arc but the plug still worked as it was powering our living room tv but didn’t fix the issue one outlet in my living room doesn’t work and then it proceeds down the hallway leading to two bedrooms and a bathroom all rooms have one outlet that is working but no lights and no other outlets I am so confused I’ve replaced all but one non working outlet and have not replaced the working ones because they work and I’ve also replaced my light switches in that hallway that controls my outdoor light and halfway light both of which do not work as well please help lol
Hi. So are you saying you’ve used one of the three light testers in the outlets that are not working? Are you getting the hot ground reverse on the outlets that are not working?
Could it be a bad breaker my whole garage is reading as that and i cant seem to find it anywhere.
It could be at your breaker box, or it could be at a junction box in the attic or elsewhere.
Half the power in my grandmother's manufactured home went out a while back, and I just bought one of these testers to try and diagnose the problem. It happened during those really heavy storms in california two years ago. Is it possible something somewhere got shaken loose? I'd like to get power working back in her house without spending a fortune if I can
If she literally lost half the power, it almost sounds like she lost one leg of her electricity, so she may not have any 240 V power. Personally, I would start at the panel and see if you have 240 V. I would check the voltage at the outlet for the dryer and see if you’ve got 240 V. If not, then she’s lost one leg of her power. If you’ve got 240 V, then, yes, it could easily be a disconnected neutral somewhere. If you do some checking and tell me what you find, I will give you my thoughts about what the next step is.
@@morganinspectionservices3840 much appreciated, I'll check after work