[This followup was posted to sci.electronics.repair and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

In article ,
says...
I just bought a house and the inspector tagged four of six basement
outlets as hot/neutral reversed.
I open the first two, see the problem, and fix it (one of two blacks
was going to silver and one of two whites was going to brass).
However, the other two "bad" outlets are already wired correctly
(white to silver/black to brass).
Plus, these two outlets have one set of wires (white/black/ground)
instead of two sets, which may not be a problem, but could be a clue.
Supposedly, if I switch the wires, the plugs won't be reversed
anymore. But that would put white on brass and black on silver.
Maybe the electrician got the white and black wrong at the head end,
wherever that is. So switching the two at the plugs will be the right
thing to do.
If the inspector was right, what is wrong with the wiring and how do I
fix it?
If the inspector was wrong, how could that be, as he was right about
two other plugs in the same room?
Or do I need to spend a couple of bucks on a sensor to check for
myself whether the inspector was right?

Just buy one of those cheap things you plug into an outlet. It has 3
neons in it that can quickly find common wiring errors. Some versions also
have a button to create a leakage that should trigger a GFI outlet or
circuit breaker to trip. They are only a few bucks and well worth it. I've
found reverse wired outlets in apartments I've lived in.

Reverse wiring will not affect many basic items with non-polarized
plugs, but could create a hazard for items with polarized plugs or
grounded plugs that assume hot is on the narrow blade. Lamps are now wired
with polarized plugs so that the neutral is wired to the shell of the bulb
socket, and the hot to the center.

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