Outlet has hot ground???

My kitchen circuit (decades old) feeds three things that I know of: oven, exhaust fan, nearby wall outlet. Recently, it started acting up: entire circuit going dead and coming back to life a few seconds later without tripping the breaker. Finally it went altogether (unplugging the stove didn't help).

After volt meter said I was getting voltage at the breaker, I investigated the outlet (the box is plastic). It's apparently the end of the line because there are only 3 wires: black, white, and bare copper ground (which was indeed connected to the ground screw on the outlet). Sounds simple enough, but here's what I found with the volt meter:

-- measuring black to white shows no current
-- measuring black to ground shows 120 volts
-- measuring white to ground shows 120 volt
-- connecting black to ground trips the circuit
-- connecting white to ground restores the circuit (stove and fan work)

There must be a short somewhere else, right? Any other ideas? (we have seen signs of mice recently)

 

Welcome to the forums.

No.... not a short..... an open. In your case an open neutral.
A short causes a breaker to trip.

If you only have two wires and a ground at the receptacle then the problem is not there. You have to keep working backwards thru all the devices to find the problem.

There is probably a receptacle behind the oven that will need to be checked.

 

In addition, you have a STOVE and other items on the same circuit?? What is the amperage rating of the breaker associated with this circuit? Is the stove 120 volts?

 

It's gas stove, so all it powers is the display, igniters, sensors, etc.

 

THAT was a short!

Yes, you have an open neutral probably at one of the receptacles or the connection to the neutral bus in the panel.

 

Called an electrician. Turns out in the panel, one of the neutral wires in the bus was loose. The sheathing was melted onto the wire next to it. I never traced the correct matching neutral through the spaghetti where the bus is on one side of the panel and the breaker on the other.

 

Thanks for letting us know the outcome. It may help someone else.