Outlets wired backwards

[buckeyefarmer]

This is a very frustrating thread to read through. There is a fair amount of misinformation being tossed around, and wrong terminology along with it, that there is no good place to start to try to offer some help.
Hopefully the OP will carry through with straightening out his mess of a wiring job and not have anyone "shorted" out or a fire break out. That means being sure the right breakers/fuses protect the circuits too.
Along with the bad information, there is also some good information. I guess it is up to the readers to carefully sort it out, and not put some of these things into practice.

I know I did a quick read thru, but I didn't see any glaring bad information. Would you care to point it out?

The solution, as many have stated, is to fix the wiring.
Can be a PITA but you will sleep better. In normal cases, it won't hurt anything, but there are some good examples of the abnormal cases that do happen.

For the person concerned about an AC unit plugged into a 15A rated receptacle, if the AC unit needs 20A receptacle, it should have a 20A plug on it, so it won't fit in a 15A receptacle.

And never assume a light fixture is off just because you turned the switch off.

Many older houses built before the 70's don't have grounded outlets, although they might still have a ground wire in the box.
Watch out for the houses built in the 70's with aluminum wiring. I was helping someone once, and the outlets had been replaced with newer ones that were rated copper wire only, and the whole house was aluminum wire.

 

[Willl]

Wow,,,6 pages in 1 day.

 

[Tdog]

This is a very frustrating thread to read through. My thoughts prezactly, & I'm the original ignoant poster. Well, I think I got the message to rewire all the outlets. Thanx for all your help.

Do you think I could drill into my ROPS?

Jack

 

[BobRip]

Watch out for the houses built in the 70's with aluminum wiring. I was helping someone once, and the outlets had been replaced with newer ones that were rated copper wire only, and the whole house was aluminum wire.

The outlets may not have been replaced. Many houses with aluminum wiring were originally wired with copper only outlets. What a mess.

 

[hr3]

Don't feel bad Tdog.. Electrical questions here on a tractor site... I'm a master electrician..been one for many years.. When I first joined the site I tryed to help out some folks,,, .. Good luck to you.. call a local electrician if you think it's realy dangerous...

 

[PILOON]

If I read correctly;
all black leads were reversed with white at both outlets and in the breaker pannel
which results in proper wireing but with wrong colors.

In fact your tester proved that out.

The guy was probably an automotive or aircraft tech where on DC black is generally ground (negative). Using 10 g suggests he was concerned with voltage drops which in the case of DC is more critical than with AC.

If my assumptions are correct, use black and white electrical tape to mark the change at both ends as is a fairly common practice.

My only then concern is breaker ratings which need to protect the wire from overheating and with #10 anything below 25 amps is safe.
15 amps for 14 g, 20 amps for 12 g.
A breaker is there to prevent wires from getting heated and igniting combustibles.
Naturally a wall switch needs to be on the hot (black) , and here your polarity tester won't work, but a el cheepo volt meter will.
A reading will show 110 v on hot (normal black) to ground but not on neutral (normal white) to ground.

Good luck, have fun!

 

[aczlan]

If I read correctly;
all black leads were reversed with white at both outlets and in the breaker pannel
which results in proper wireing but with wrong colors.

In fact your tester proved that out.

Actually, (IF I am following the thread correctly) his tester (which sounds like a plugin plug tester) says that the hot and neutral are reversed, See the post below:

Geez guys - - they are backwards. I plug the tester in & it tells me the common & hot are reversed. I shut off a breaker, pull the outlet & take a look. Sure enough the black is wired to the side that says 'white'. Pretty stupid, but consistant throughout the house. As i said, it is hard for me to do physically, but I'm plugging away at it.

Aaron Z

 

[Highbeam]

A breaker is there to prevent wires from getting heated and igniting combustibles.
Good luck, have fun!

That's what I thought too.

 

[Chuck52]

This might be a stupid suggestion, too, but at least I am labeling it as such!

I have trouble enough bending 12 GA wire around screws, especially in cramped spaces, so 10 would really be a pain. Would it be reasonable to use crimp on connectors? That is, trim back the exposed 10 GA and crimp on a heavy duty u-type connector that would then go under the screw easily? I know you are adding a connection, and maybe that's totally against code, but it might make the job easier. A box of the insulated base connectors is fairly cheap. I have that type of connector in many of the instruments I work on carrying pretty heavy amps in some cases.

Chuck

 

[kenstrac]

If it was stranded wire yes I never put a solid wire in a Sta-kon.