"Aaron" wrote in message
...
On Mar 15, 10:50 pm, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:
"Aaron" wrote in message

...









I have been trying to trace down where a circuit starts showing
voltage between my ground wire and neutral wire. I found the a
receptacle on the circuit that is correct where the neutral and ground
show 0V, and then a box which I believe is the next receptacle that
shows 120V between the ground and neutral. I have looked in both
boxes and everything looks correct.

1st Box
H-N = 120V
H-G = 120V
N-G = 0V

2nd Box
H-N = 120V
H-G = 0V
N-G = 120V

What can cause the above scenario. A short? A broken wire?
Also, is this dangerous? I think it has been like this for awhile.

It looks like somewhere the neutral and the hot wires have been reversed.

While you are probabaly not in danger of a meltdown, do not use the socket
that has the faulty wiring.

Also something else I just thought of. Downstream from the bad box,
there is a light and the switch leg shows voltage between the neutral
and the ground when the switch is off.

More evidence that the black and white wires got reversed. This switch is
now breaking the neutral, and the hot is going directly to the fixture.