"electrician" replaces receptacles & switches

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JDB3

Senior Member
A fellow electrician asked me to help him trouble shoot a house where the receptacles & switches were replaced. His initial concern was that there was no voltage hot to neutral for a vanity fixture. My old plug in tester indicated an open neutral. We found the receptacle where they "stabbed" the 12 gauge wire into the back of a receptacle (one of the neutrals was not connected). Another circuit indicated hot & ground reversed. We found a receptacle where the ground wires were separated (connecting the grounds solved the problem). At a GFCI receptacle for the kitchen: the black, white, & ground were wire nutted & caped off together (the was originally wired for 1 line in & 2 load sets of wires out). Other items as well!!
Is there a good tester that will correctly identify "correct polarity & open grounds or neutrals? Thanks. I am semi-retired & all of this sure had me trying to "think" again.
 

roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
Mine is not a $5.00 one, but it did not give a true indication of the wiring mess-up.
Even some higher dollar plug in analyzers are easily fooled.

Roger
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
I doubt there's going to be a tester that can be plugged in and display "There's a poor neutral connection on the left living room receptacle on the east wall".
 
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