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I recently had a circuit in my house go out. On two receptacles on that circuit, my outlet tester is showing hot/ground reverse, and nothing was able to be powered from the outlets. At two other outlets on that circuit, there is no power at all.

It is my understanding that this is most likely caused by a loose or burnt-out neutral. So I opened up all four receptacle boxes. All of them looked fine. Two were backstabbed, so I replaced those just in case they were a loose connection. I then tightened down every connection and checked for any melting, etc. I also checked every wire nut, etc. While a few felt a bit lose, tightening everything down did not have any effect. Still two outlets showing hot/ground reverse and two of them are completely out.

I also checked the 2 light switches on the circuit. They all looked fine as well (and I tightened them down).

A relevant piece of information: when the circuit went out, it had just been subject to too high a load (a paint sprayer and a heater at the same time). It went right when the sprayer started, so I had assumed it was just a breaker trip, but the breaker was not tripped at all. This made me initially think that most likely something had gone wrong in that particular outlet, however everything looked OK inside.

I am at a bit of a loss for what to look to next. While I can find a lot of past experiences listed with hot/ground reverse, I was wondering if the fact that two outlets are completely out is useful diagnostic information.

Advice on what to look to next would be very helpful!

FreeMan
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evt
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  • https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/259321/how-important-is-addressing-ground-reverses/259334 – brhans Mar 31 '23 at 05:46
  • Thanks for the comment. However, in this case I do have to worry about it because all the outlets in the circuit are out... – evt Mar 31 '23 at 05:48
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    My point was for you to read the answers to that question (for help with troubleshooting), not really the question itself. – brhans Mar 31 '23 at 05:52
  • Thanks. But I think I did follow the advice in that thread? I pulled every outlet and switch on the circuit and inspected for any wiring issues. I even disconnected everything and reconnected it and removed the backstabbed receptacles. Did you notice something in there that it seemed like I missed? – evt Mar 31 '23 at 05:58
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    The so-called "Hot-Ground Reverse" indication from one of those testers on an existing circuit which was previously working almost certainly means that you've lost neutral somewhere of that outlet and that you also have something plugged in downstream on the same circuit or (less likely) you also have hot & neutral reversed somewhere upstream. I suggest you unplug & disconnect everything on that circuit, then start back at the most upstream outlet, connect & test, then move downstream to the next outlet, connect & test again, etc ... – brhans Mar 31 '23 at 06:08
  • Perhaps the wiring between the outlets melted or was damaged by the overload. Moving from upstream to downstream with everything disconnected as @brhans suggests should enable you to at least localize the/a damaged segment. – Armand Mar 31 '23 at 07:18
  • Thanks. I have disconnected everything and I'm still getting the same readings. The one thing I can think of is that some of the light switches on the circuit are smart switches, so perhaps they have some sort of vampire draw? The wiring is so old and ad hoc. I don't actually know what is the end or beginning of the run. – evt Mar 31 '23 at 21:57
  • Re: " I have disconnected everything and I'm still getting the same readings" Perhaps there is a misunderstanding here? Did you disconnect the light switches, too? What do you mean by "everything"? A clear description of what exactly is connected where for which readings is needed. Are you using a multimeter? – Armand Apr 01 '23 at 05:50
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    Did you manually cycle the breaker--switch it off and then back on? – Jim Stewart Apr 01 '23 at 18:54
  • Have you checked for voltage present at various places (incl at the breaker) with a non-contact voltage tester? or with a contact tester? – Jim Stewart Apr 01 '23 at 18:58
  • Yes. At the ones showing the reverse, I am getting 120 hot to ground, 100 neutral to ground, and nothing hot to neutral. At the dead ones I get nothing. – evt Apr 02 '23 at 06:21

1 Answers1

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Does power go into the lamps? Check there.

Also, don't forget the neutral bar in the panel. This is the #1 place that is overlooked.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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