Cables Stuffed in One Large Hole

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Maybe that's why the OP opened the panel. (joking) No working GFCI's

Little Bill
Are you sure those neutrals don't go to those GFCI breakers? They wouldn't go to the neutral bar.
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ESolar
When I first looked at it, they had the Neutral and Ground from the SER reversed. post 8
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petersonra said:
I don't personally see any reason to mess with it. But, if it bugs you enough, feel free to tear it apart and clean it up.
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I'm inclined to simply neaten the wiring so that is looks pretty:) But not to reroute the wires. That's a lot of work with no benefit (other than to the letter code compliance). That said, I feel compelled to track down the capped neutrals. I recall testing all of the plugs in the home, and they passed except a few, and a two-way switch which also did not work - all due to lose back stabs. Maybe the guy/gal ran those circuits for lights (they are labeled as lighting) and didn't use neutrals - just a guess. But the work is not that old.
 
ESolar said:
I'm inclined to simply neaten the wiring so that is looks pretty:) But not to reroute the wires. That's a lot of work with no benefit (other than to the letter code compliance). That said, I feel compelled to track down the capped neutrals. I recall testing all of the plugs in the home, and they passed except a few, and a two-way switch which also did not work - all due to lose back stabs. Maybe the guy/gal ran those circuits for lights (they are labeled as lighting) and didn't use neutrals - just a guess. But the work is not that old.
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What you're calling a "two-way" switch is actually called a 3-way switch. Regardless of that, if they ran an extra cable for the travelers that might be what the white wires are. Just leave them capped. That's unless you find circuits missing their neutrals.
 
Little Bill said:
Shouldn't be, but the way the other wiring is, who knows.:)
I've yet to spot the capped neutrals in the picture!
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They caps are there. It's the two NM cables on the left coming in from the bottom. The caps are buried. The hots go to two separate breakers. I checked the neutrals on the related receptacles with a tester, and they show as connected. But that means (for sure?) that the neutrals used were from another circuit (or tied to grounds maybe - unlikely). No GFCIs and little demand on the one circuit, so its probably no big deal. But why do that at all? And it should be fixed or investigated to see what's up. Now I have to figure out where the circuit lands. The other circuit leads to a bathroom. That bothers me much more given the GFCI. But it also works - so another neutral was used? Very confusing. I'll put an audio tracer on the neutrals and track them down. The bathroom is small, so it's easy to tackle first.
 
Ok - resolved - my mistake. Because of the mess it wasn't clear at first glance. They are splices, not just capped, to get the neutral to the neutral bar. I guess they ran the cable short. Like I mentioned, this guy was bit on tight runs. But this issue also supports the suggestions to clean that mess up. It's not easy to see what's going on. Sorry for the rabbit hole.
 
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