Dave wrote:
"bud--" wrote in message
.. .
Dave wrote:
"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Dave wrote:
Question for the gurus. I just tested my housewiring (at the wall
outlet) and found that I have 120V AC between the hot and return,
only I can't tell which of the top two "slots" is hot and which is
return. They both show 59.4 VAC with referrence to the third
(GND) terminal, on the bottom. Huh? Anyone have any idea what
might be going on with my house
wiring? It's an old house, built in '49 or '50, and has had
numerous pieces added and modified. I was in the attic once,
installing the wiring for a bathroom outlet, and got bit by the
*white* wire, which should have been my first clue something was
wrong. When I asked someone else about that though, was told
that it might be normal, depending on what had been put in place.
:/ Any ideas or feedback are welcome. Hoping someone can explain
this. Also hoping I don't have to rewire my house...
Floating ground. It is likely that there is no ground wire at the
outlet, and that the origional 2 prong outlet was replaced with a
"grounded" outlet, even though there was no ground wire to connect
to the ground connection.




Hey Bob,

Floating ground... Okay. That would fit with what I saw up in the
attic, about the wiring used in the house. sigh At least it's
nothing really wierd. Always thought I ought to rewire the house,
just didn't want to tackle that project. Wondering if I can live
with it...

If done properly, it should be a 2 prong ungrounded receptacle, or a
GFCI receptacle, or downstream from (protected by) a GFCI
receptacle. If downstream from a GFCI it can be a grounded
receptacle even though there is no ground. That could be what you
have (but not likely). --
bud--


You know, something's jogging my memory. I remember now I once
tested a different outlet and got the same results, right after we
had the house remodeled. And I wonered about it but never persued
it. Before the house was remodeled I worked on an outlet to replace
the hardware, and it tested normal. In between these two, when the
house was remodeled, the contractor (or whoever) had to hardwire
their floor sander into the service entrance because we didn't have
any 220 VAC outlets, even though we had the normal two "hot" wires
(each 110 or 120 but 180 out of phase with each other) coming from
the pole. We have central air, and the outside unit (compressor?) is
wired for 220 (or 240, whatever, I don't remember) but it is the only
thing on the property that is. I am wondering now if they changed
something at the service entrance when they hard-wired their floor
sander in.
I just filed for a bunch of insurance reimbursements, and we are
expecting some extra cash as a result. I need to get an electrician
out here to check this out. Anyone have any ideas as to what I might
expect to have found? All ears...

A house of that vintage is very likely to have no ground to the outlets. If you
open up the breaker box (fuse box?) and look at the wires coming into the box
for the appropriate circuits, you will probably see that each 110V cable
entering into the box has 2 wires (black, white) but no associated bare ground
wire.