Jeffrey wrote:
Hello everyone. Just had a quick question. Our house is only 2 years
old and up until a couple motnhs ago everything seemed to work fine as
far as electricity is concerned. Mysteriously, in our bedroom, 3
sockets stopped working. It was not a breaker, nor a GFCI, etc....Just
these three. Over at home depot I picked up a little tester with the 3
lights that tells what is wrong supposedly. In two of the 3 I got
Hot/Ground Reverse and in one I got Open Neutral. So, in my thinking I
could just open up the sockets and switch the hot ground on the 2 and
then connect the presumed detached neutral on the other. But there has
got to be a reason this happened on 3 at the same time. Is there
anyone out there who can point me in the right direction?

The problem likely lies with the one showing an open neutral or the
outlet just upstream of it, which would not show a problem. Turn the power
off and check the one with the open neutral for a poor connection. If you
are lucky you will find one. Fix it and go buy a lottery ticket as today is
your lucky day.

If you find back stabbed connections (wires going into holes on the back
of each outlet rather than to the screws) I suggest you consider taking a
day, shutting down all the power to the house and changing all your outlets
over to the screws. Much more reliable and safer.

If you don't find anything on that outlet, then you need to try and
guess where the power to that one is coming from because the problem is
likely at that outlet.

Good Luck and be careful. If you are unsure of any phase of the project,
consider buying a wiring book at the hardware store or stop by the library.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit