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joeygates_gw

Grounded with Neutral touching ground - open otherwise

joeygates
17 years ago

Hi,

I was looking for the advice of an electrician who has dealt with a similar problem before.

I was moving around a room and noticed my wife wanted her desk elsewhere. I decided to, since she would have her computer on it, check the outlet she would be moving to.

It seemed old so I changed it. I noticed before I changed it that with my GFCI tester, all sockets on this circuit were fine (2 right lights solid). I also noticed that the ground wires were sloppily twirled together and one was touching one of the neutral wires. I was hoping this wasn't the reason for it looking like it is grounded.

After wiring up the new receptacle I found that this and all of the other receptacles were showing an open ground. I put my tester in each one and put my pliers between the ground and neutral on the socket I just wired and each one showed as grounded.

- Did I do something wrong by pulling the ground away from the white wire?

- All of the sockets have a ground wire in their cables. Shouldn't I be grounded now? If so, what could be causing this?

- And most importantly, I also noticed that when I touch my wand tester (voltage sensor) to the screws, it lights up shows voltage. I touch the screws with my shoes off standing on the ground floor and I don't feel a shock.

?? So in this current state, is there a chance of fire? Shock? ??

This is in my basement where in the summer it can get pretty humid. I'd prefer the ground to be working and might call an electrician to come over but I'd like some options first. I'd also hope that there is no chance of fire due to this change.

Thanks in advance for any help you're able to provide.

Joe

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