"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.

Wires are reversed, possibly at the outlet you're measuring at. Find the
circuit's breaker and pull the outlet and make sure green or bare copper
goes to green, black to gold and white to silver. Make sure any pigtailing
is properly done. Find all other outlets on the circuit and check them as
well. Get a 3 prong outlet tester with little neon lights to test each
outlet for correct polarity and grounding ($5)

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/test.htm

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/outlet_tester.gif

If all the outlets pass but the lamp switch wiring is still screwy, then I
would suspect something a little more difficult to track down. Is that
switch a dimmer, timer or other powered switch? I often find people
perplexed when installing these devices in a lamp fixture circuit that
doesn't have a neutral wire so they pull one from somewhere else, often with
very bad results.

--
Bobby G.