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I was helping a friend out and she had an outlet that they tried to put in a GFI outlet, but it would trip the breaker. They ended up just covering the outlet up. I offered to look at it and after switching the breaker off and after confirming that the two lines in the box weren't live with my inductive tester, I loosened one of the wire nuts and received a small shock. I then tested the line again and it was live. To make a long story short, the other line was connected to another breaker and both wires were hot, no neutral. Suffice it to say that this line needed to be traced back to the next junction box to see how it was wired. I just clipped the wires off and taped the end up.
So, as a word of warning, I'm guessing when two live wires are connected to each other, they neutralize each other and your induction tester will read them as not being hot. I'm sure most people will not run across something like this, but from now on, I'll test wires connected together again after separating them.
I was helping a friend out... to put in a GFI outlet...
I loosened one of the wire nuts and received a small shock.
...long story short... both wires were hot, no neutral.
Are you sure it was a receptacle, and not a 3 or 4 way switch? Otherwise, something ahead of it is screwed up and not made up right. I did not know this about wiggies, so you can learn something new everyday.
Best to not hide/bury electrical problems by "covering them up". I suggest your friend call an electrician and have the problem properly repaired. And because it is a simple problem (for an electrician), should not be too expensive to fix.
I was helping a friend out and she had an outlet that they tried to put in a GFI outlet, but it would trip the breaker. They ended up just covering the outlet up. I offered to look at it and after switching the breaker off and after confirming that the two lines in the box weren't live with my inductive tester, I loosened one of the wire nuts and received a small shock. I then tested the line again and it was live. To make a long story short, the other line was connected to another breaker and both wires were hot, no neutral. Suffice it to say that this line needed to be traced back to the next junction box to see how it was wired. I just clipped the wires off and taped the end up.
So, as a word of warning, I'm guessing when two live wires are connected to each other, they neutralize each other and your induction tester will read them as not being hot. I'm sure most people will not run across something like this, but from now on, I'll test wires connected together again after separating them.
Yeah, best to always use a contact tester and test for V, when testing for safety. The wires could be hot....yet no current would be flowing, because no load would be in place.
If you measure the voltage between two hots on the same side of neutral it will be zero. If you measure the voltage between an open circuit and anything it will read zero.
I use the non contact tester as a first step. I always test a known good power source, then what I am actually testing. Then once I pull the joint apart, I always touch the wire to ground even if I think it is out. Then I still work it like the wires are hot, trying not to touch the bare ends.
I was helping a friend out and she had an outlet that they tried to put in a GFI outlet, but it would trip the breaker. They ended up just covering the outlet up. I offered to look at it and after switching the breaker off and after confirming that the two lines in the box weren't live with my inductive tester, I loosened one of the wire nuts and received a small shock. I then tested the line again and it was live. To make a long story short, the other line was connected to another breaker and both wires were hot, no neutral. Suffice it to say that this line needed to be traced back to the next junction box to see how it was wired. I just clipped the wires off and taped the end up.
So, as a word of warning, I'm guessing when two live wires are connected to each other, they neutralize each other and your induction tester will read them as not being hot. I'm sure most people will not run across something like this, but from now on, I'll test wires connected together again after separating them.
What you encountered was work done by non electricians because "electrical work is easy". The reason both wires were connected without tripping either breaker is becauae they were both on the same phase coming out of the service panel.
Call a real electrician and they will solve the problem.
Well, it turns out the circuit has more problems besides one improperly wired line. Another outlet on the circuit went dead, but there was power to the line. I plugged my tester in and it read hot-ground reversed or hot-neutral reversed. It was beyond what I was willing to fix on someone's else's home, so I suggested she hire an electrician. I did pull the one bad line from the day before and shoved it up into the attic, for the electrician to deal with. I did find one light fixture box with 2 hot lines going into it, which I suggested as the first place for the electrician to start, but I wouldn't rule out another junction closer to the breaker box.
I think the original person who wired the house wasn't an electrician because the light fixtures I saw had power going to the switch and not the fixture. I really don't think that was allowable by code in the 70's because my fixtures are wired correctly and my house was built in the 60's.
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