Any ODT Electricians? House outlet wiring question after outlet tester showed neutral/hot swapped.

[testdepth]

Good afternoon. I had a home inspection done to my house a few days ago. The inspector placed his outlet tester into a few outlets in my living room and says the hot and neutral are swapped. I bought a tester and did the same thing with same results. This morning I pulled all the outlets out of their boxes to look at the wiring. I also removed one that tested and showed it was wired correctly. All outlets are wired the exact same way with white to silver and black to brass. Have you seen this before or know how to fix this?

Is it as simple as wiring the outlets showing swapped by placing white to brass and black to silver?

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[BHPSteel]

Did you inspect the wiring colors in the panel, and the input side of the FIRST outlet that's supplied by that breaker?

Because SOMEWHERE - almost certainly somewhere near to (or in) the panel, the pair are crossed.

 

[DanKATL]

Good afternoon. I had a home inspection done to my house a few days ago. The inspector placed his outlet tester into a few outlets in my living room and says the hot and neutral are swapped. I bought a tester and did the same thing with same results. This morning I pulled all the outlets out of their boxes to look at the wiring. I also removed one that tested and showed it was wired correctly. All outlets are wired the exact same way with white to silver and black to brass. Have you seen this before or know how to fix this?

Is it as simple as wiring the outlets showing swapped by placing white to brass and black to silver?

​

Are they all on the same circuit? I'd be looking for a common junction where they're swapped.

 

[Adman 2990]

Check the breaker first. If it is wired correctly, then more than likely someone changed the supply (first outlet) and got the wires crossed when swapping it out. There will be multiple outlets on one circuit/breaker.

 

[testdepth]

Dammit man now I have to kill power to the whole house to check the service panel. ARRGGGGHH!

This is due to having my panel wired for an emerg generator and the safety ensuring power is cutoff to the power pole. Main power has to be turned off to move the lever and remove the panel cover

 

[testdepth]

Are they all on the same circuit? I'd be looking for a common junction where they're swapped.

Yes 4 outlets all on the same wall and all show hot and neutral swapped.

 

[DanKATL]

Yes 4 outlets all on the same wall and all show hot and neutral swapped.

Look for the first one in the run, and work from there to the panel.

 

[testdepth]

Look for the first one in the run, and work from there to the panel.

How do you tell which is the first in the run?

 

[4ssss]

Take the cover off the breaker box and see what color wire is going to the breaker that controls the outlets. The white should not be on the breaker, it should be going to the neutral bar.

 

[4ssss]

If all 4 outlets are wired the same, it's at the panel box unless they wired the outlets to another room or jumped off a hot wire on a switch.