wrote in message
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I'm been slowly checking all the sockets in my new house (1930s). In
one socket I found the neutral wires were in the earth terminal and
the earth in the neutral!!! How could this work? I thought any current
feeding back through earth would trip the circuit beaker. Apart from
further dodgy wiring in the house, could this be an indication of a
bigger problem, ie circuit breaker not working?

A circuit breaker in a household fuse box only trips if the current is
exceeded. You have to have a RCD type device to trip on earth current which
you probably don't have.



I'm going to keep checking and fixing the rest of the sockets in the
house, not being an electrician I can only really check the wires and
the correct way round and secure. Is it worth getting a qualified
electrician in to run some continuity checks etc? What else could they
check for?

Cheers

Chris