How To Find An Open Neutral In A Circuit

The readings taken here show that the neutral connections from the utility to the breaker box are ok.

How to find an open neutral in a circuit. And that the neutral is open somewhere in the branch circuit neutral. In an electrical system ground and neutral are connected together in one location only at the neutral pointthis connection is either at the power company transformer or in the main electrical panel of the dwelling see electrical circuits. If you have an open neutral at an outlet the outlet and all those connected after it wont work but they all will still be energized. An open circuit is one that is discontinuous at a point preventing electricity from flowing through it.

The above tests are to test that the branch circuit in question does indeed have a good potential of nominal voltages 110 125 volts but is unable to complete the circuit from an open neutral. How to fix an outlet that doesnt work. The voltage on a neutral wire is normally 0 volts v on a live circuit. If you have reached this page without beginning at the start of the diagnostic tree you may do better to start there.

Although you can close and open a circuit at will using a switch some open circuits may be caused by other reasons such as wire cut in the circuit or an accidentally blown fuse. The hot black wires were still connected and the breaker was back on but without the neutral path the light wont work and the neutral ahead of that open splice will have power on it the same as the hot wire. What is a loaded neutral and why did i get a shock from it. You will have to remove the outlet and find out which is the case.

If you have an open neutral in the panel the lights will dim and get brighter. The neutral wire completes the circuit for every 120 volt device in the house. Since an open is an unintended discontinuity locating it can involve experimentally disturbing connections till the bad one makes good contact again briefly or else deducing fruitful places to look. An open neutral means the neutral wire is disconnected or broken.

To find where the neutral is open you will have to know how the branch circuit is wired ie. Without a continuous path back to the panel and the neutral buss bar the voltage has no place to go to complete the circuit. Daisy chained then start at the first outletswitch in line checking line to neutral blk. Isolating the open neutral can take a bit more work but you can save yourself some time by following these steps.

You can test for an open circuit by. The wire may also be broken.