Continuity on hot/neutral at dead outlet












1















I have an outlet that has stopped working.
When it used to work I previously labeled which circuit it was on at the breaker. I'm rather certain I know which breaker supplies it. It also supplies other lights, which continue to work.



Turned off breaker, removed outlet from wall and disconnected from wires. Powered on breaker, and confirm with multimeter no AC measured on bare wires at outlet. (Proving that this is not a faulty outlet.)



Have a continuity tester (part of a tone generator). I am getting continuity across hot and neutral on these wires.
(Edit: also getting continuity between neutral and ground wire, as well. 20 ohms hot/neutral, 1 ohm neutral/ground, 20 ohms hot/ground. WTF??) What does this imply? How could I have done this?



I'm still trying to use the tone generator to trace where the wires feeding this outlet come from, but the continuity is making the signal very weak.






electrical







share|improve this question




















  • 4





    1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

    – manassehkatz
    Nov 25 '18 at 23:48






  • 1





    Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

    – ThreePhaseEel
    Nov 26 '18 at 1:52






  • 1





    Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

    – Phrogz
    Nov 26 '18 at 3:00
















1















I have an outlet that has stopped working.
When it used to work I previously labeled which circuit it was on at the breaker. I'm rather certain I know which breaker supplies it. It also supplies other lights, which continue to work.



Turned off breaker, removed outlet from wall and disconnected from wires. Powered on breaker, and confirm with multimeter no AC measured on bare wires at outlet. (Proving that this is not a faulty outlet.)



Have a continuity tester (part of a tone generator). I am getting continuity across hot and neutral on these wires.
(Edit: also getting continuity between neutral and ground wire, as well. 20 ohms hot/neutral, 1 ohm neutral/ground, 20 ohms hot/ground. WTF??) What does this imply? How could I have done this?



I'm still trying to use the tone generator to trace where the wires feeding this outlet come from, but the continuity is making the signal very weak.






electrical







share|improve this question




















  • 4





    1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

    – manassehkatz
    Nov 25 '18 at 23:48






  • 1





    Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

    – ThreePhaseEel
    Nov 26 '18 at 1:52






  • 1





    Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

    – Phrogz
    Nov 26 '18 at 3:00














1












1








1








I have an outlet that has stopped working.
When it used to work I previously labeled which circuit it was on at the breaker. I'm rather certain I know which breaker supplies it. It also supplies other lights, which continue to work.



Turned off breaker, removed outlet from wall and disconnected from wires. Powered on breaker, and confirm with multimeter no AC measured on bare wires at outlet. (Proving that this is not a faulty outlet.)



Have a continuity tester (part of a tone generator). I am getting continuity across hot and neutral on these wires.
(Edit: also getting continuity between neutral and ground wire, as well. 20 ohms hot/neutral, 1 ohm neutral/ground, 20 ohms hot/ground. WTF??) What does this imply? How could I have done this?



I'm still trying to use the tone generator to trace where the wires feeding this outlet come from, but the continuity is making the signal very weak.






electrical







share|improve this question
















I have an outlet that has stopped working.
When it used to work I previously labeled which circuit it was on at the breaker. I'm rather certain I know which breaker supplies it. It also supplies other lights, which continue to work.



Turned off breaker, removed outlet from wall and disconnected from wires. Powered on breaker, and confirm with multimeter no AC measured on bare wires at outlet. (Proving that this is not a faulty outlet.)



Have a continuity tester (part of a tone generator). I am getting continuity across hot and neutral on these wires.
(Edit: also getting continuity between neutral and ground wire, as well. 20 ohms hot/neutral, 1 ohm neutral/ground, 20 ohms hot/ground. WTF??) What does this imply? How could I have done this?



I'm still trying to use the tone generator to trace where the wires feeding this outlet come from, but the continuity is making the signal very weak.






electrical




electrical






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Nov 25 '18 at 23:39







Phrogz

















asked Nov 25 '18 at 23:17









PhrogzPhrogz

3831621




3831621








  • 4





    1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

    – manassehkatz
    Nov 25 '18 at 23:48






  • 1





    Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

    – ThreePhaseEel
    Nov 26 '18 at 1:52






  • 1





    Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

    – Phrogz
    Nov 26 '18 at 3:00














  • 4





    1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

    – manassehkatz
    Nov 25 '18 at 23:48






  • 1





    Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

    – ThreePhaseEel
    Nov 26 '18 at 1:52






  • 1





    Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

    – Phrogz
    Nov 26 '18 at 3:00








4




4





1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

– manassehkatz
Nov 25 '18 at 23:48





1 ohm neutral <---> ground is normal; 20 ohms Hot <--> neutral & ground sounds like you are detecting some other device in the circuit.

– manassehkatz
Nov 25 '18 at 23:48




1




1





Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

– ThreePhaseEel
Nov 26 '18 at 1:52





Is there anything plugged into the circuit? Unscrew all the lightbulbs on it and unplug everything attached to receptacles on it, and see if you still get continuity

– ThreePhaseEel
Nov 26 '18 at 1:52




1




1





Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

– Phrogz
Nov 26 '18 at 3:00





Thanks @manassehkatz for encouraging me to disconnect everything else until I found the problem (see my answer).

– Phrogz
Nov 26 '18 at 3:00










1 Answer
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Thanks to @manassehkatz I went to all light switches on the same circuit and disconnected them. The outlet retained continuity.



I then traced the wire through the crawlspace to a wall with another light switch that I did not realize was on the same circuit. Opening that box and removing the switches I found that the line to the outlet comes from that box, and I somehow failed to reconnect power to the outlet when I was changing out my dimmer switches. The neutral was connected, but the hot line to the outlet was just loose in the back of the box. (Yikes.)



I'm not sure what connection it was making when everything was crammed into the box. I'm guessing it was loosely connecting to one of the free ground wires. Once I removed the switches from the box continuity disappeared. And, once I connected the wires properly, the outlet works again.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

    – DoxyLover
    Nov 26 '18 at 4:47











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1 Answer
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active

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1 Answer
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active

oldest

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active

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active

oldest

votes









2














Thanks to @manassehkatz I went to all light switches on the same circuit and disconnected them. The outlet retained continuity.



I then traced the wire through the crawlspace to a wall with another light switch that I did not realize was on the same circuit. Opening that box and removing the switches I found that the line to the outlet comes from that box, and I somehow failed to reconnect power to the outlet when I was changing out my dimmer switches. The neutral was connected, but the hot line to the outlet was just loose in the back of the box. (Yikes.)



I'm not sure what connection it was making when everything was crammed into the box. I'm guessing it was loosely connecting to one of the free ground wires. Once I removed the switches from the box continuity disappeared. And, once I connected the wires properly, the outlet works again.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

    – DoxyLover
    Nov 26 '18 at 4:47
















2














Thanks to @manassehkatz I went to all light switches on the same circuit and disconnected them. The outlet retained continuity.



I then traced the wire through the crawlspace to a wall with another light switch that I did not realize was on the same circuit. Opening that box and removing the switches I found that the line to the outlet comes from that box, and I somehow failed to reconnect power to the outlet when I was changing out my dimmer switches. The neutral was connected, but the hot line to the outlet was just loose in the back of the box. (Yikes.)



I'm not sure what connection it was making when everything was crammed into the box. I'm guessing it was loosely connecting to one of the free ground wires. Once I removed the switches from the box continuity disappeared. And, once I connected the wires properly, the outlet works again.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

    – DoxyLover
    Nov 26 '18 at 4:47














2












2








2







Thanks to @manassehkatz I went to all light switches on the same circuit and disconnected them. The outlet retained continuity.



I then traced the wire through the crawlspace to a wall with another light switch that I did not realize was on the same circuit. Opening that box and removing the switches I found that the line to the outlet comes from that box, and I somehow failed to reconnect power to the outlet when I was changing out my dimmer switches. The neutral was connected, but the hot line to the outlet was just loose in the back of the box. (Yikes.)



I'm not sure what connection it was making when everything was crammed into the box. I'm guessing it was loosely connecting to one of the free ground wires. Once I removed the switches from the box continuity disappeared. And, once I connected the wires properly, the outlet works again.






share|improve this answer













Thanks to @manassehkatz I went to all light switches on the same circuit and disconnected them. The outlet retained continuity.



I then traced the wire through the crawlspace to a wall with another light switch that I did not realize was on the same circuit. Opening that box and removing the switches I found that the line to the outlet comes from that box, and I somehow failed to reconnect power to the outlet when I was changing out my dimmer switches. The neutral was connected, but the hot line to the outlet was just loose in the back of the box. (Yikes.)



I'm not sure what connection it was making when everything was crammed into the box. I'm guessing it was loosely connecting to one of the free ground wires. Once I removed the switches from the box continuity disappeared. And, once I connected the wires properly, the outlet works again.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:59









PhrogzPhrogz

3831621




3831621








  • 1





    The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

    – DoxyLover
    Nov 26 '18 at 4:47














  • 1





    The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

    – DoxyLover
    Nov 26 '18 at 4:47








1




1





The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

– DoxyLover
Nov 26 '18 at 4:47





The lose hot wire was probably touching the metal box, giving continuity to ground and thus to neutral. 20 ohms because it wasn’t making good contact.

– DoxyLover
Nov 26 '18 at 4:47


















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