Tracing my neutral to ground 120v source and if i have true ground

First of all, my bedroom outlets, and living room(two separate circuits), have 120v from neutral to ground and zero volts hot to ground. Also have 120v from hot to neutral. I pulled the receptacle cover and can see the wiring color is correct: white to neutral, black to hot. Not sure where to go from here.

Also, I want to determine if I have true grounds and not bootleg. If my ground slot at my receptacles have continuity and zero ohms between them and the circuit breaker chassis in my apartment hallway, does this confirm true ground? Or can a bootleg neutral to ground jumper wire somewhere cause this reading also?

Thanks

 

If this is an apartment and you rent you should not touch the wiring. Call landlord and ask him to fix the problem.

 

Per your previous thread..... it would appear that hot and neutral are reversed.

There is no way to electrically confirm a bootleg ground. Any connection from neutral to ground will give the appearance of a properly grounded circuit.

First of all.... what type of cable is in use..... does it even have a ground ?
You have to identify every device on the circuit. Check each one for reverse polarity.
If it leaves the panel correctly then it is reversed at one of the device junction points.


You mentioned apartment. If you are a renter you shouldn't be involved with servicing the electrical due to liability issues.

 

We own our co-op. I'm battling mngnt to do it but in mean time, doing some investigating myself.

So I have two circuits. Circuit 1 is my bathroom, bedroom and den. All outlets read 120v from neutral to ground. I checked each one and I did find one miswired. I removed the outlet and rotated it to correct polarity and reattached wires, finishing with one wrap of electrical tape, as I've seen many people do. Unfortunately, it did not affect my problem at all.

Circuit number 2 is my living room, part of kitchen, and some lights. Haven't started on that one yet, but it's the same exact problem as the other circuit.

I don't know what else I can do myself. Not comfortable pulling my circuit breaker panel out, unless I was certain the problem was there.

I was told the wiring is bx and from pics I see online, that's what it looks like. It's a 1962 nyc coop bldg. I don't know if it's grounded but was told in order to pass inspection, it had to be. Not sure what to think of that. Also, our window ac circuits apparently aren't correct either. They should be dedicated circuits and they aren't. They share with some other kitchen appliances.

That said, we've been here two years, and haven't had any symptoms of any problems.

 

Would the fact that I have continuity between my outlet ground wires and my radiator water pipe indicate I have true ground?

 

Absolutely not.

The neutrals and grounds are tied together at the main panel.
That means the neutral and the ground are at the some potential.

Let me clarify..... you are operating under the assumption that you may have a bootleg ground.
Based on that you would have to open all the connections on that circuit to confirm whether or not you had a bootleg ground.

As I think on this further.... you're in NYC. That means your electric is in pipe or metal clad wiring. Based on that assumption... you should have ground to your boxes.

 

That's above my head. Can you explain why it wouldn't be grounded if the ground terminal is connected to an earth ground (water pipe).

Also, are you coming to the conclusion that it is grounded only because it's a nyc building? Because alot of them are not. Our last residence was another nyc apartment that was not grounded. It was almost 100 year old building.

Also, when you refer to the metal clad pipes, I'm not sure if you are referring to the neighborhood wire structure or just in my bldg. Because my area actually has street overhead lines and utility poles etc...

 

Back to the ceiling fan thing. The ceiling fan itself is the last item in the circuit that I haven't checked for miswire. If it was miswired, since it's hardwired into the wall switch, with the wall switch off, could it still cause other outlets to read the 120v neutral to ground? Trying to determine if I need to drop it to look at wiring...

 

You can have functional grounding and you can have legal grounding and you can have grounding that appears to pass tests but is inadequate.

BX cable with hot and neutral inside can test as a good ground but the spiral shield (cable casing) is not regarded as an adequate ground by itself.

Rigid metal conduit, properly installed, is regarded as a legal (code meeting) ground but it is still possible for oxidation at the clamps and joints over many years to cause it to show a ground failure when tested.

Grounding to a water pipe is not considered legal because it is possible that at a future date a section of plastic pipe might be substituted and then the ground path is broken.

Ungrounded circuits may not be extended or have additional receptacles or fixtures added although worn out or out of style items may be replaced. Some kinds of bootleg grounds are permitted to allow changing over to 3 prong receptacles but this does not grant the ability to extend the circuit or add things.

 

Thanks for the info AllanJ. Since I have BX, what would be adequate grounding with it?

 

Spiral flexible metal conduit sheath can be the grounding path (equipment grounding conductor if it has a thin bare metal strip or wire running the full length inside but outside any paper or cloth lining. The complete network of conduit and metal boxes is an acceptable EGC from any given outlet box if it can handle the full circuit amperage, a typical test being connecting a heater or hair dryer to hot and ground (suggest using short wires with alligator clips on the ends) and not suffering more than a few volts dropped.