Electrical Question.....

[~TG~]

Need help/advice from any electrician here...

here's the story in a nutshell...
I just bought a house (older home)... when the inspector went out he told me that ALL of my outlets have "reverse polarity" or that the wires are backwards....I think.. What the $%*@ is that??

All the plugs work fine, and I know that the previous owner added copper to the existing ALU wiring about 2 years ago... but i'm not sure what all of that means..and i'm confused..

Here's my situation... I have 3 tanks and you all know that means LOTS of plugs......Will this/can this be a problem??
I know i need an electrician to go out there and check it out, but I'd like to get a crash course as to what this means so I don't have this look :unsure on my face when I find someone to check it out for me...LOL

ANY advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks
Thelma

[SBreef]

Thelma,

What reverse polarity means is this, the Hot(120v AC) and the Neutral are reversed. AC Voltage is Alternating Current, meaning that the current alternates between the Hot and Neutral.
Reversed polarity is not really bad, but it needs to be taken care of, because some plugs and equipment are set up with polarized plugs. And if someone worked on the electric and thinking that the Hot and the Neutral was in the proper order, they could have a real shocking experience! :o :angry

[brewercm]

Sounds like Roy pretty much covered it for you. When he talks about "poloarized plugs", those are the ones where one side is larger than the other.

[alton]

Reverse Polarity is more dangerous than you think. Screwing in a light bulb can be a shocking experience if polarity is reversed. Please get this fixed ASAP. You can purchase a plug tester at Home Depot or Lowes fairly cheap to test for this.

[brewercm]

Never thought about that before, but very true since the ground portion of the fixture is now hot.

Ouch >_<

[hobogato]

even if the polarity is reversed, the ground should not be hot. if it is, there is something else going on - im not an electrician, but maybe one will chime in with suggestions.

[alton]

The green or bare is considered the grounding conductor. The outside shell of a lamp is attached to the grounded conductor (White) and the bottom of the lamp or bulb when screwed in attaches to the ungrounded conductor (Black or Red) or terminal. If you reverse the polarity and then if you are holding on to the side of the lamp or there is moisture present you will become energized. If a circuit is ungrounded then it will look for the nearest ground. I wish I had a picture to show this.

[brewercm]

True Alton. The outside (screw section) is not a ground, it is neutral. Those are the two that get crossed in reverse polarity, the neutral and hot wire.

[~TG~]

Thanks for everyones help here...

This is how the inspector said it when he told me....

~ "You have reverse polarity in all plugs.. it appears that at somepoint when they worked on the wiring they switched the white and black wires.. it could have been when they added the copper to the existing ALU wires" he pointed this out to me...
" The hole is the ground.. the short slit is the hot and the long slit is the cool... NOW the way its set up, the short slit is the cool and the long slit is the hot..." then he said something about it takes away the "safety feature"?? does that mean the breakers wont work if there is a problem?? (it slipped my mind to ask him that)
The house has electricity now and its been over 3 years that someone touched the outlets. the previous owner said he added the copper wiring to it but that he didnt touch the white or black wires and has never had a problem. I'm just worried about the amount of electricity that i'll be using with my tanks and i was thinking if i should get those switched out to GFI's ?? I'm not good at understanding this electrical stuff....
Thats why i need advice...

Thanks Again
Thelma

[Richard]

Have you actually closed on the house? Seems like the sort of thing you would make the seller fix before closing. Also seems like the sort of thing a financing bank or the insurance company would not be too happy about.

[brewercm]

It's a really easy fix at the breaker box by reversing the wires that go to the breaker and the neutral. If they are wired correctly at the switches and outlets etc., you should have a black wire hooked to the breaker and white to the neutral bar.
Richard is correct and I'm surprised the inspector didn't mention this as a show stopper unless fixed before closing, nothing really hard to do just surprised.

[~TG~]

I'm closing this week and the sellers moved out of town already...I'll get an electrician to go out there asap to fix it before i move in. I should have asked the seller to fix it but I didn't push it cause the house was on the market for all of 7hours great price/location. The next day there were 5 contracts on the table.... :unsure .lol
The Inspector didn't really make that much of a deal about it... he was just ~baffled~ lol and said "I dont think they were paying attention to what they were doing when they did it... i'll just write it up as a recommendation for safety reasons..."

Now ~ should I have the electrician install those GFI's where my tanks are going? What do you all recommend? or would the regular outlets be ok to use with the power strips/surge protectors? I really appreciate all this advice here. I want to get this done the right way and not have to go back later and fix/add anything later and have my tanks in the way, blocking the outlets.

Thanks Again
Thelma

[alton]

The cost of any service call is just getting there. Just ask for a quote to change out certain receptacles to GFCI's. Also make sure if you have #12 Alum. Wire that your breakers are all 15 amp not 20 amp. So many times when a breaker trips, home owners go out and buy a bigger breaker even though the wire connection is not large enough.