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I replaced a worn-out electrical outlet for a buddy of mine. The house is about 15 years old. When I pulled the old outlet out of the wall, I noticed the bare ground wire was under the same screw head (a no no by itself) as the white wire, eventhough the outlet had an unused green screw. When I replaced the outlet, I wired the new one (properly?) and put the bare wire under the green screw. Guess what?!? The outlet didn’t work! When I put the bare wire and the white wire together again under the same screw, everything is fine. (I think?) What gives? Am I behind the times in wiring technique, or is my buddy’s house wiring all screwed up?
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OK Barry, here's the deal:
The White (neutral) is obviously not connected to anything, so a previous home owner used the Ground (the bare wire) to connect the circuit.
Neutral and Grounds are pretty much the same thing, they all go basically to the same place on the box, the neutral bus bar. The Ground in turn goes on to, well, the ground, hence the name.
As you might have guessed, the wiring schematic is not up to par, as you have a live load going through your ground system, which could include water pipes. Being it is only 15 years old, I would suspect that it is wired with Romex and the Neutral White wire is nicked somewhere behind a wall some place, and that some lazy electrician thought this was easier than finding the nick, and pulling new cable.
There are methods to trace the wire back to a previous box and trouble shoot the problem, but I suspect those methods might be above you skill level. I suggest your friend consult a licensed electrician to solve the problem. Re-post something, if you require more details.
*Just for yuks; before you call the electrician take a look at the breaker box and any junction boxes you can find. I redid a place a couple years ago that had been totally wired wrong. Was able just to take existing wire and reconnect properly. A LOT cheaper than dragging all new wire.Probably not the situation. But it doesn't hurt to look.
*Eek! Yeah, take the time to look around, open boxes, and peer inside any wall spaces you can get at. The chances that you discovered the -only- bs wiring in the entire house are slim. For some reason, the less skill someone has, the more fearless they become. My house was filled with fire hazard Easter Eggs, and I find them in other people's houses all the time ... never just one.
*I'm sure this will elicit hotter responses than mine, but the neutral and the ground WITHIN the house are not the same thing; more importantly they serve a very different purpose. So the current wiring is very unsafe, particularly to anyone working on it. And very possibly to anyone touching the plumbing. Get it checked as soon as possible. Hopefully the problem is only on that circuit...
*I suppose this could be called a "bootleg neutral" -- a valid neutral being absent, the installer used the nearest piece of grounded metal for both grounding and neutral (the plug didn't have to be grounded/3-prong I suppose). This is like having the current for a floor lamp flowing through the stand ... not good.
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I replaced a worn-out electrical outlet for a buddy of mine. The house is about 15 years old. When I pulled the old outlet out of the wall, I noticed the bare ground wire was under the same screw head (a no no by itself) as the white wire, eventhough the outlet had an unused green screw. When I replaced the outlet, I wired the new one (properly?) and put the bare wire under the green screw. Guess what?!? The outlet didn't work! When I put the bare wire and the white wire together again under the same screw, everything is fine. (I think?) What gives? Am I behind the times in wiring technique, or is my buddy's house wiring all screwed up?