Missing Neutral (residential)

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stgeorge

Member
I have a receptical in my sisters home that isn`t working. My receptical tester has told me the neutral isn`t there. There are only the 3 regular wires installed and no other jumpers/loops feeding another receptical. All wires and are fine and connected correctly.All other recepticals in the room are fine.
My question is where to look for the neutral and what might of caused a perfectly working receptical to loose its neutral.(the receptical isn`t switched)
Thank you all for your responses.
 

Cavie

Senior Member
Location
SW Florida
use a vollt meter. Remove the recptical and check hot to ground, hot to neutral. Neutral to ground. Then check continutiy from neutral to ground.
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
stgeorge said:
All wires and are fine and connected correctly.All other recepticals in the room are fine.
My question is where to look for the neutral and what might of caused a perfectly working receptical to loose its neutral.


Check the receptacle that is closest to the one that's not working. The back stab connection probably came loose and this where the neutral was lost.

With the power off. check to make sure that the connections are good at the receptacle that feed the one that's not working. Don't just look at it, pull on the wire to make sure it won't come out.
 
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charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Let me add this to Growler's suggestion. I would start by opening the circuit breaker that turns off power to that receptacle. Look to see what else has just lost power. The receptacle that I would suspect of being the cause of the problem is the one that is (1) among those that has just lost power, (2) closest to the one giving you trouble, and (3) located between the panel and the one giving you trouble.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
While these are all good suggestions, I wouldn't put all of my trust in that handy, dandy tester. Sometimes they lie.

So just keep an eye open for causes other than just an open neutral.

Though it could be an open neutral.:rolleyes:
 

celtic

Senior Member
Location
NJ
stgeorge said:
My question is where to look for the neutral and what might of caused a perfectly working receptical to loose its neutral.(the receptical isn`t switched)

I would start looking by talking...asking questions...when did you have work done, where was the work performed..etc.

A broken wire - neutral or other wise - can be a real bear to find....read this thread of mine:

Troubleshooting ~ elusive neutral ???
 

azhapp

Member
Location
Arizona
Missing Nuetral?

Missing Nuetral?

Agree with turning things off, observing what else is off.
Also agree with using voltmeter....one of my testers broke with airlines handling baggage.
Is the place wired with Romex? If not, check to make sure Neu & Gnd are not exchanged. If it is Romex, might also see if neutral was connected to ground in the wire nutz.
 

mattsilkwood

Senior Member
Location
missouri
azhapp said:
Agree with turning things off, observing what else is off.
Also agree with using voltmeter....one of my testers broke with airlines handling baggage.
Is the place wired with Romex? If not, check to make sure Neu & Gnd are not exchanged. If it is Romex, might also see if neutral was connected to ground in the wire nutz.

welcome, the neutral and ground being reversed will not cause this because the go to the same place. the tester only knows if the circiut is made.

take your meter and check line to ground first then start looking at the closest receptacle.
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
In your favor is that it did work once.This likely will be a bad connection.As you have a hot but no neutral find the breaker as has been suggested that protects that circuit and tag everything that does not work.Back stabed receptacles and switches are a number 1 suspect.Any recent work needs checked.The problem might turn up as bad splice anywhere on that circuit.This will take time.Give her the family rate.Your just a beginer and this can be a challenge for even a 20 year man.Wish you luck.
 

SeanKelly

Member
We used to take two plug testers, plug one into the bad recep and start plugging the other tester into nearby outlets and wiggling it. This will reveal most bad connections (back stabs/loose wirenuts ). If that fails it's time to whip out a real tester and start opening things up. I was surprised how well that trick works when it was first shown to me. ;)
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
SeanKelly said:
We used to take two plug testers, plug one into the bad recep and start plugging the other tester into nearby outlets and wiggling it. This will reveal most bad connections (back stabs/loose wirenuts ). If that fails it's time to whip out a real tester and start opening things up. I was surprised how well that trick works when it was first shown to me. ;)

Wish i had known that trick back when i was doing houses.
 

lordofpi

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
I hate to say it this way, but any sparky who does a lot of service work must own a quality circuit tracing kit (please note I used the word "quality"). Most good ones can follow wire in conduit buried in concrete. The man-hours wasted by tracing circuits can be frustrating; I bought mine about 2 years ago, and it cut the time I spent on this kind of work in half, and you can be quickly on to the next job.
 
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