Have you checked your house with a GFCI outlet tester to find wiring errors? Good! But there’s one wiring error you can’t find with an outlet tester, and that’s a ground-neutral reverse (also called neutral-ground reverse).
Your ground wire is the bare copper wire (or sometimes it is covered with green plastic) that carries excess current back to the main ground at the circuit panel. You do not want it carrying 120 or 240 volts when it shouldn’t! It’s there for safety, not to carry current to your lamp and computer!
How Do You Find a Ground-Neutral Reverse?
To find a ground-neutral reverse, you must take the cover off every outlet and light switch and look at the wiring connections. If you can, do it for junction boxes as well.
What you should see is the white (neutral) wire connected to the silver-colored screws on the receptacles (plugs) or light switches.
The black (hot) wire (this might also sometimes be red in color) should be connected to the brass-colored screws.
The bare copper wire (ground wire; sometimes this will have a green coating over it) should be connected to the green-colored screw.
Here’s an image of a properly wired outlet, from Gardner-Bender. Notice the white (neutral) wire connecting
to the silver-colored screw (just like in the diagram above), the black (hot) wire connecting to the brass-colored screw, and the bare copper wire (ground) connecting to the green screw. The multiple copper wires you see are simply various connections to ground. Your outlet might look different, but the copper wire must always be connected to the green screw.
If you don’t see this type of connection in your outlets or switches, something is wired incorrectly.
Here is what a ground-neutral reverse looks like.
Why Does It Matter?
First and foremost: safety! You don’t want your ground wire carrying current.
Secondly, miswired connections can (though they do not always) cause the Satic Power Perfect Whole-House Filters as well as the Pure Power Plug-in Filters to underperform. It’s simple physics. So for both safety and better dirty electricity cleaning, fix your wiring errors!
This video doesn’t show you a neutral-ground reverse, but it does show you the many different ways outlets and switches can be properly wired. If you aren’t sure what you are seeing, call an electrician.