On Nov 15, 7:43*pm, E Z Peaces wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
*Smitty Two wrote:

So the g.f. and I are chipping in on a newly remodeled investment house
in her city, 300 miles from me. Home inspector sent a report that
included a notation that the outlet intended for the refrigerator is
giving an odd indication on the 3-LED tester: All three lights
illuminate.

Any speculation on what could cause this unlisted and presumably
improbable test result?

Thanks to all for participating in this puzzle. Here's what I finally
got from the electrician:

H-N *120 V
N-G *43 V
H-G *163 V

He said that the neutral wire was "bonded" to a ground wire of another
circuit in a junction box under the house, which was "backfeeding"
voltage to the fridge outlet. He did say the fridge was on a dedicated
circuit.

I don't know whether that makes sense to any of you, but it doesn't help
me much. I guess I don't have a thorough enough comprehension of the
electrical system to understand anomalies like that. To me, if you tie
neutral to ground, you get 0 volts across them.

The problem seems to be the ground, not the neutral.

I don't know of any case where it is ok to bond a neutral and a ground
in a junction box. *For safety, the ground conductor is supposed to go
all the way to the breaker box with no connection to any neutral.

Evidently the ground from the outlet goes to the neutral of a circuit
wired to the other 120V phase. It sounds as if the neutral of that
circuit must be open somewhere between that junction box and the neutral
bus in the breaker box.

43 volts sounds like leakage from a device on that other circuit, and
the device is not on. *In that case, if that device were turned on, the
device would not work. *H-N would remain at 120. *N-G would be 120. *H-G
would be 240.

To get rid of the bond between ground and neutral, it sounds as if the
circuit needs a cable with a ground between the junction box and the
breaker box. *That other circuit may also need a modern cable.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

use an old fashioned voltmeter like a Simpson 260 to make your
measurements. The new digital meters are so sensitve they can pick up
and register a voltage just because two wires are near each other even
though they are not actually connected. This can give a beginner
confusing readings. Or use a small 120V light bulb as a tester.
Mark