L-N Reverse On All Kitchen Sockets

[atm-12]

Hi, I am a newly qualified electrician and have a quick question. A friend asked me to take a look at a socket that was making an arcing noise after a water spillage so I went round to have a look. I ended up swapping the socket for a new one and this fixed the aching noise however when I checked it with my plug tester it showed a L-N reversed fault. I then checked other kitchen sockets and they also showed the same fault. He said it has been like this for the past 5 years and hasn't been a problem and I didn't have much time so we left it at that but I said I would look into it.

I guess that next step would be to check in the fuse board? First thing that comes to mind is that it could be connected up wrong in the fuse board, but if it is connected up correctly how would I go about finding the fault? It is an old flat with old electrics and there is probably many problems but I doubt my friend will want to spend the money.

Any general advice on what to do would be great. Thanks.

Edit - I was meant to tag this as domestic and not commercial.

 

[RyanCheetham]

Is it cabled in pyro or twin/singles? I have seen it a few times on pyro in flats where cables have been confused by a less than competant person. As for fault finding you may get lucky and find it in the CU but it could be in a JB hidden somewhere, in the back of any socket outlet and be prepared for it to take time to find

 

[snowhead]

Check the other sockets in the flat, then check if it's had a meter change and whether it's wrong at the meter.

 

[Darkwood]

After this LN reverse result with a plug in tester i guess you then used a recognised approved tester to confirm the reading and not rely on a cheap £10 socket tester... if that's the kind you mean?

 

[jackhammerJIM]

what darkwood said .

its your socket tester thats faulty

 

[7029 dave]

As stated, check polarity at meter first, then go from there.Are all sockets reversed on all other circuits?.

 

[Darkwood]

what darkwood said .

its your socket tester thats faulty

I didn't say that! - I commented if the socket tester is a cheap £10 plug in tester then he should confirm it with an approved calibrated tester - His socket tester may give false and confusing readings when the circuit may have another issue the tester can't recognise as well as the obvious 'its a faulty tester' scenario.

The OP's post is ambiguous he ay well mean a recognised calibrated tester if not then as a newly qualified sparks should know not to rely on a cheap quick checker... that aside i hope he didn't leave the circuit this way as also he's in a position of responsibility now and reverse polarity can be deadly under fault conditions... whether its his friend or not he shoud have isolated all effected circuits for safety and not re-energised until resolved.

Im given the impression he's not resolved it left it as is, with the intention to return another day - i would recommend he pops over to his mates and tries to sort it now or isolate the effected circuits completely -Physically!

 

[ArseyDee]

A blond moment with polarity connections at the socket you were changing????

 

[jackhammerJIM]

apologies

its likely your socket tester thats faulty .

 

[Paul.M]

Totally agree with Darkwood.

As above I would check polarity at the meter, the CU incoming tails and the out going mcb. From them results I would check EVERY socket on that circuit, visual may find it, if not bell it out. Find it out and sort it out. Not a hard fault find really.


Edit:- Why as an electrician working a friends house changing a socket and fault finding are you only using a socket and see tester?

 

[PEG]

You cannot and should not leave that circuit operational without at least confirming your findings with a better piece of kit.Think of how anything plugged in to that circuit behaves if a plug top fuse blows...you can get a crackin AVT for 40~60 squid...

 

[moospark]

Put the washer on and see if it goes backward.

 

[guest119]

Plug in the telly and see if the programmes are all repeats.

BTW I just love it when somebody spells the word competent wrongly :rolleyes4:

Boydy

 

[Jeffmo65]

surely in a ring final if one socket is wired incorrectly that will slightly confuse the other ones

 

[Andy78]

surely in a ring final if one socket is wired incorrectly that will slightly confuse the other ones

No that's forum users you're thinking of, not sockets.