Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums > AC Power and Grounding
Right or Wrong? New building has receptacles with Hot and Neutral reversed.
John Penkala:
I just came across a venue where every receptacle had the Hot and Neutral reversed according to my Extech circuit tester. And yes, I've verified that the tester is working correctly. I'm thinking the reversal is at the panel. I would think this could be extremely dangerous under certain circumstances. I'd like to hear the opinions of the pro's here.
-JP
John Roberts {JR}:
It is not automatically dangerous by itself. Line and neutral are both insulated inside properly designed equipment.
However it is WRONG and should be corrected. >:(
It can be dangerous in connection with other wiring faults. :o
JR
Mike Sokol:
--- Quote from: John Roberts {JR} on September 10, 2017, 05:23:05 PM ---It is not automatically dangerous by itself. Line and neutral are both insulated inside properly designed equipment.
--- End quote ---
Yes, in combination with a bootleg ground it becomes an RPBG which is REALLY dangerous. And if you're working inside of a piece of gear that's not unplugged from the outlet, everything that's connected to the incoming neutral will still be energized even if the switch is off. Never assume anything is off!!!
However, I just don't see how the hot and neutral could be reversed at the panel. And if this is a new building, how did it pass inspection?
g'bye, Dick Rees:
--- Quote from: Mike Sokol on September 10, 2017, 05:34:09 PM ---Yes, in combination with a bootleg ground it becomes an RPBG which is REALLY dangerous. And if you're working inside of a piece of gear that's not unplugged from the outlet, everything that's connected to the incoming neutral will still be energized even if the switch is off. Never assume anything is off!!!
However, I just don't see how the hot and neutral could be reversed at the panel. And if this is a new building,how did it pass inspection?
--- End quote ---
This guy?
Stephen Swaffer:
--- Quote from: John Penkala on September 10, 2017, 04:49:40 PM ---I just came across a venue where every receptacle had the Hot and Neutral reversed according to my Extech circuit tester. And yes, I've verified that the tester is working correctly. I'm thinking the reversal is at the panel. I would think this could be extremely dangerous under certain circumstances. I'd like to hear the opinions of the pro's here.
-JP
--- End quote ---
There really is no way to reverse this at a service panel. The NEC refers to the neutral as the grounded conductor (different from the grounding conductor). The neutral is bonded to the grounding conductor, making it the "neutral"-until that happens it is not really a neutral. If any of the 3 wires (on a typical split phase system) feeding a subpanel are mixed up, you might run into a hot/neutral reversed scenario on half of the receptacles-the other half would have 240 volts across them because they would have 2 hots connected.
Of course, I am assuming the service panel is properly bonded-lacking proper inspections that might be a dangerous assumption. Lacking proper bonding, the same could happen on the service panel as in the subpanel.
I would suggest shutting off the main breaker and having a qualified electrician inspect the system (or a qualified inpsector). That pretty much rules out the installer-as a qualified installer should have verified his own work.
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