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1960s build, electrical redone with a 200 A Siemens panel (where each breaker is labeled with/serves two circuits) about 15ish years ago.

Replacing a receptacle, I came across this series outlet with the ground backstabbed into a neutral terminal, and the neutral on the ground terminal.

what. is. this.

It seems to be the enclosure ground bond.

enclosure wires

As may be expected, my three-light receptacle tester did not identify this situation.

Since this is an outlet which presumably powers other outlets in series, the person who wired this presumably intended the ground to serve as a neutral. I find it very hard to believe this is an inexperienced-DIY accident they didn't bother to correct, but I suppose it's possible?

Assuming I correct this with a new receptacle, what else should I be looking for? Are there any other tests I can do on the circuit?

I'm already planning to replace all the receptacles on this circuit, but there are also pot lights (I think halogen) which I can't easily access.

Here are two similar but distinct situations below, where the consensus was though these both seem like bootlegged grounds, which is not what's happening here (as far as I understand - please correct me):

msanford
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2 Answers2

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You appear to have one of the neutral wires on the ground screw and one of the ground wires in a neutral backstab. There are basically two possibilities:

  • Misunderstanding of Neutral/Ground "they're all the same so it doesn't matter what goes where". That is easy to fix - move the neutral wire to one of the side screws and move the ground wire to the ground screw. If everything works (including other receptacles/lights on the same circuit) then you're all set.

  • Deliberate swapping of neutral and ground. This happens from a combination of "they're all the same" with "neutral broken". If ground is broken there is no visible manifestation of the problem. You see it with a 3-light tester or with a surge protector or other device that reports ground status. But all appliances, receptacles, lights, etc. work fine, at least until there is some other problem. However, if the neutral is broken then nothing works. Somebody figures out the problem is neutral and rather than tracking down the problem (typically a bad connection somewhere) they play this sort of game. Which is dangerous for a bunch of reasons.

So rewire this receptacle so that everything is normal. And then see what works or doesn't work. If something that worked before doesn't work now then you have a more serious problem (anything from a chewed up wire to a loose screw or backstab) someplace else.

FYI, backstabs are notoriously unreliable. And screw connections are often hard for novices to do well. So it pays to spend a couple extra $ per receptacle to get "commercial grade" or similar that have "screw-to-clamp". That lets you wire straight in (like a backstab, unlike a regular screw connection), two per screw (unlike one per backstab or regular screw) with screw to tighten down securely (unlike a backstab) and reusable (unlike a backstab).

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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DIY accident they didn't bother to correct, but I suppose it's possible?

Anything is possible.

What else should I be looking for?

The other end of all those wires.

each breaker is labeled with/serves two circuits

I'm assuming this is just a weird way of saying there are two appliances on each circuit. Each circuit breaker is a separate branch circuit by definition.

Are there any other tests I can do on the circuit?

There's no easy test for a bootleg ground or neutral bonding. Visually inspecting all the splices is the best option.

not what's happening here (as far as I understand - please correct me)

All we know from the photos is that the receptacle is wired wrong.

Robert Chapin
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