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Posted by Dave on September 19, 2007, 12:44 am
>I have an overhead light fixture that was failing intermittantly.
> I opened the J box of the on/off wall switch controlling that overhead
> fixture .
> I have a twisted bundle of 4 white wires stuffed into a wire nut.
> The white neutral for the overhead light had loosened from the group.
> When I tried to reattach it properly to the other three twisted
> together, tiny sparks flew.
> One of the neutral wires is hot.
> I isolated and disconnected this neutral, and reconnected the 3 other
> neutral feeds.
> Everything upline from there now works.
>
>
> I get a reading of 120v when I attach a voltmeter to the hot white
> wire and ground it to the box.
> When I short the wire against the metal box, BIG sparks fly.
>
> I don't want to connect it to the other white wires again
>
> The disconnected wire is to the floor outlets in one room.
>
> Prior to my disconnecting this wire the floor outlets worked.
> (Last time someone worked on electric in this room was over 7 years
> ago)
>
> What would cause this wire to be hot, yet still appear to function?
> If I had an incorrectly polarized outlet, wouldn't it short out
> against the ground?
>
>
> Am I missing something Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tony D
The white wire is a return path for hot to earth ground. If something on
one of those outlets downstairs is actively used, all what you see it
normal. Unplug all appliances et all downstairs outlets, try it again.
Dave
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