Habsfan wrote:
....
I am replacing all my receptacles/switches in the house to decora. In
my living room I found through much trial and error that there is a
plug that has a live ground. It's 120V from the ground to the box.
=== Meaning, the green or bare wire to the box?
It was isolated or not touching the box when the old receptacle is on
there, but since I have tried to put it on there, it causes a short
and trips the breaker.
=== OK. Since it trips the breaker, it's definitely live! How many, total
wires, are in the box, what color, and where to they go?
I have the cct on right now, but have to pull the wires out of this
one box so the ground doesn't touch anything.
=== Not sure I understand this; pull wires out of the box so the ground
won't touch?
The plug to the right
of this one tests fine with my little tester. (kind iwth 3 lights you
plug into receptacles).
=== Those are usually decent for testing outlets; good.
The plug to the left is weird. It tests for "open ground" (thus
because I assume I have pulled it's ground off the other box) and it
=== What other box? The one with the hot ground?
says Hot-Ground switched. I measure 70V from line to ground wich is
weird.
=== Not necessarily: You can get a reading like that when using a high
input impedance meter; it reads induced voltage from other wires. It MIGHT
be perfectly normal. I'll often read 90Vac on mine, in fact.
If you plug anything into the outlet that draws even a tiny amount of
current when it runs, I'll bet you'll read 0 Vac.
If you DO NOT read 0 Vac with something connected, then there is another,
possibly serious problem. For it to be less than the 120Vac or whatever
your normal line voltage is, you could have to have something badly miswired
elsewhere. I doubt that is the case, but it's important to prove it, just
in case you have crossed wires elsewhere and when you kill that ckt brkr,
you haven't actually turned off ALL power into the ckt.
There are 2 cables coming into this box, and I think it must
be 2nd from the end of the cct as there is one last plug behind our
dining room hutch which I won't replace.
=== Two cables? Do you mean two pairs of wires? If so are they
black/white pairs? Is there a green or bare wire there also?
Can anyone tell me what could be the problem with this cicuit? I
can't figure it out.
=== Maybe. The first thing to do is to figure out whether there really is
70Vac on the "ground" wire. Is there? What color is it? Where does it
connect to on the outlet? Rather, where was it connected? Is it connected
now?
I have inspected the cables coming into the
boxes and they seem to be fine. It's been working for the past 15
year as the ground in the one box wasn't touching ground, but I of
course don't want to put it back like that.
=== Good decision. Whether it's a "spare" wire or a mis-used wire, it's
fairly important to know what's up for safety's sake.
I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OF ANYTHING I'VE TOLD OR WILL TELL
YOU. IF IN DOUBT, GET AN ELECTRICIAN IN THERE. 120vAC CAN KILL IN LESS
THAN ONE SECOND IF IT GOES THRU THE RIGHT PLACES IN YOUR BODY.
For conversational reference, wiring annotations are as follows:
Black = "hot". This (hot) wire goes all the way back to the fusebox
eventually, and is black all the way.
white = neutral. The "other" side of the ckt. Picture it like black hot is
"in" FROM the fusebox, and white neutral is "out" TO the fusebox.
Green or bare wire = Earth Ground. Just what it sounds like, and eventually
goes to that ground rod outside the house.
Black goes to the small blade hole on the outlet.
White goes to the wide blade hole on the outlet.
Green or Bare goes to either the metal electrical box, or to the green screw
on the outlet box.
White and Green/bare are NEVER connected together ANYWHERE except all the
way back at the fusebox. Inside the breaker box, they connect together; no
place else. They MUST NOT be connected together in any outlet box.
Based on the foregoing, can you come back with:
1. Figure out whether that wire is hot?
2. Now describe the situation in terms of wire colors?
3. Add any details that seem relevant.
Once again, I have to say, ELECTRICITY KILLS AND MAIMS QUICKLY, so if you
aren't sure what your'e doing, get an electrician in there.
Regards,
Pop
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No, I won't get dressed.
I'm retired!
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