Expert: Bob Sponaugle - 1/5/2008

Question
The other night I had a Electric heater plugged up to my outlet, along with other items. It kept tripping, I would go to the breaker box and reset the breaker. This time I tried to reset it and nothing would come back on (lights,plugs). I replaced the breaker thinking that would do the trick but it did not. I have a plug tester and it showed"HOT GROUND REVERSE" on all the plug outlets that are not working.The bathroom GFCI will not test as well. What can I do to try to fix the problem myself.

Answer
Hi.

First of all, do not reset a breaker until the problem is resolved.  It can cause a fire.  It sounds like you burned the white wire somewhere in the system.  The reverse message is because something is causing feedback. A GFCI will not reset if it is not getting power.

You will need to track down all of the white neutral wires. These things can be hard to track down.  Somewhere in the circuit, there is a break.  It could even be at a device that is working, because it could be the wire leaving the working device that is not working.

Check all outlets, switches, and lights.  Check the wire nuts, because the wire could look connected, but not be.  Especially check any outlets and switches that have the wires pushed in the back rather than screwed to the sides, because sometimes these fail.

I hope this helps.

Bob