Our 30-year-old cement fountain in the back yard finally fell apart. In the 7 years we've lived here, we never used it as a fountain because it had obvious leaks. My wife planted flowers in it. But now it's fallen apart and we had it hauled away. Revealed under the fountain was a typical 3-prong electrical outlet (switched from inside the house). It's not in good shape and would need to be replaced if we ever wanted something electric there again. I'm thinking a waterfall or something would look better than this naked outlet. My polarity tester shows Hot and Neutral are reversed. I guess it wasn't installed by a pro. And there's a third thick white wire emerging from a separate conduit. I guess the white wire is ground? I wonder why it's separate from the hot & neutral. Can anyone confirm this looks like a ground wire? What would you do to rehab this outlet?

Hey all! I've got an old house with radiator heating and an air handler/AC for cooling. Put in new wiring/service recently, and looking to hook up the air handler and A/C to see if they even work. Looks like the air handler was powered with 14/2 (15 amp) is that sufficient/correct? I'm mostly struggling with how to connect a thermostat to the old beast to see if it moves air. I have some 18/5 wire, not sure if I need more- or if it would be smarter to run it with more conductors before drywall goes up... The only label I found on the air handler is a small placard (pictured) I've (hopefully) attached some pictures. If I need to provide more info, please let me know! I'd greatly appreciate any advice/guidance/instructions on how to power and connect a thermostat to this thing! Thank you