Wiring problem

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Bobhook149

Bobhook149

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Went to a service call at the end of the day today,

Cable line from a TV had touched a forced hot water base board heater and cause quite an arc. Did not trip any breakers.

The house is wired kind of funky BX turns to romex... no j-boxes to be found.

Pluged in a outlet tester and it reads open ground. Opened up the box and neutral in reading Hot. Besides it being reversed everything rings up okay with a voltage tester.

Now...

We go to another room with a different circuit and it reads open ground..... but when we go to the other room and connect the neutral which is(hot) to ground the circuit read correct.

Voltage readings we kinda all over the place on the cable 60v , 120v , 150v on the cable to ground

Any ideas


Thanks

bob
 
Bobhook149 said:
Went to a service call at the end of the day today,

Cable line from a TV had touched a forced hot water base board heater and cause quite an arc. Did not trip any breakers.

We go to another room with a different circuit and it reads open ground..... but when we go to the other room and connect the neutral which is(hot) to ground the circuit read correct.
Click to expand...


Is the cable connected to a grounding electrode of some sort? Maybe the hot is some how running through a piece of equipment, running back to the grounding electrode, then through the cable; which is shorting out on the base board.

It may be possible is has enough resistance not to trip the breaker out!?
 
Bobhook149 said:
Went to a service call at the end of the day today,

Cable line from a TV had touched a forced hot water base board heater and cause quite an arc. Did not trip any breakers.

The house is wired kind of funky BX turns to romex... no j-boxes to be found.

Pluged in a outlet tester and it reads open ground. Opened up the box and neutral in reading Hot. Besides it being reversed everything rings up okay with a voltage tester.

Now...

We go to another room with a different circuit and it reads open ground..... but when we go to the other room and connect the neutral which is(hot) to ground the circuit read correct.

Voltage readings we kinda all over the place on the cable 60v , 120v , 150v on the cable to ground

Any ideas


Thanks

bob
Click to expand...


How is this possible, as the cable sheath is nonmetallic?

It also sounds like there is a lost or loose neutral issue.

 
I believe it's more likely that the house's electrical system is improperly energized than it is that the cable's shield is.

I suggest running an extension cord from a nearby house with a known-properly-wired receptacle, and using a wiggy.

You need hot and ground references against which to test this house's system. (Don't use a GFCI-protected receptacle.)
 
Bobhook149 said:
Went to a service call at the end of the day today,

Cable line from a TV had touched a forced hot water base board heater and cause quite an arc. Did not trip any breakers.

The house is wired kind of funky BX turns to romex... no j-boxes to be found.

Pluged in a outlet tester and it reads open ground. Opened up the box and neutral in reading Hot. Besides it being reversed everything rings up okay with a voltage tester.

Now...

We go to another room with a different circuit and it reads open ground..... but when we go to the other room and connect the neutral which is(hot) to ground the circuit read correct.

Voltage readings we kinda all over the place on the cable 60v , 120v , 150v on the cable to ground

Any ideas


Thanks

bob
Click to expand...

Read the first post in the attached thread and see if this sounds like your situation, then look at Post #58 near the end, I found, I think if I remember, that someone reversed the polarity and then used a "jumper" from what should have been the "neutral" to the ground screw on the receptacle.

Look Here
 
1793 said:
Read the first post in the attached thread and see if this sounds like your situation, then look at Post #58 near the end, I found, I think if I remember, that someone reversed the polarity and then used a "jumper" from what should have been the "neutral" to the ground screw on the receptacle.

Look Here
Click to expand...

Was this in a house with no grounding conductor in the existing wiring? One way to fool an inspector, never done it but heard of it, is to jump the grounding to the grounded of a recept.
 
TT009 said:
Was this in a house with no grounding conductor in the existing wiring? One way to fool an inspector, never done it but heard of it, is to jump the grounding to the grounded of a recept.
Click to expand...

This was an old Victorian home with a mixture of wiring methods.
 
BX on one end and NM on the other? You have splices in the walls or elsewhere. I've cleaned up some messes lately like that. Someone's painter, yard man or brother in law "fixed him up".
 
Wow, all the crazy readings you explained is exactly what I have seen once before. It ended up being a tree root grew through the neutral coming off the transformer in the yard.
 
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