Doing some home DIY work changing one of my bathroom outlets and discover that its wires are crossed, hot and negative are switched. Now I'm concerned so I check the other two outlets and find 1 out of 2 also shows reversed polarity.

This house is 24 years old but, we bought it nearly 3yrs ago..the prior owners were definitely not DIY types and the original owners I can't say but assume that they left the home internals as is. Scary thought, has this house gone 20+ years with a variety of its wires reversed? Is this more common than people know?

More importantly, with at least two owners it's been through at least two home inspections and nobody caught that?

Both of the houses I've bought, my home inspector specifically tested every outlet looking for stuff like reversed polarity and detached grounds.

Takes 2 seconds per outlet with a $10 outlet tester.

My first new home had a problem in the laundry room. The washer ran real fast and the dryer took forever. The wiring for the two was reversed.

Yikes ! Sounds like all of us should get some kind of plug in tester. Shame on the "electricians" who installed that shit.

Do pro electricians normally provide a 'check everything' type service to find crap like that ? God I hope so.

Outlet Tester

Plug it in at EVERY regular outlet in the house (not 220v outlets like for dryers/stoves)

In the Air Force, almost all aircraft maintenance tasks have a "supervisory inspection" per Technical Oder (and such is a official directive and failure to follow is a direct violation of lawful military order).

Any maintenance one performs will include "surrounding area" inspection. This means visual for any obvious defects, damage, wear or discrepancies, evidence of leaks, foreign object debris, chafing, loose components etc.

(it is not a suggestion)

The supervisory inspection is done by a higher level authority who is able to "clear" grounding issues corrective action(s).

There are also additional "Command Response" inspections on critical systems/component repairs after the aforementioned corrective action and clearing where two inspectors (at least one with command and response authority) reads an annotates checklist procedure of inspection by the other inspector who checks and answers the command.

From that, I inspect any and everything anyone else has done out of habit and the realization that "experts and professionals" are people first.

I also more often than not, have others inspect things I do, or at least "run things by" those I trust to give feedback.

And that means doing my own testing and inspecting on houses I have built, bought, vehicles and whenever I have had work done by others.

I have caught enough things and had things I have done be caught, which made all those efforts worthwhile many times over in work, hobbies and life in general.

(And yes, I have been told I make coffee nervous.)

I think it's pretty common.
Just because the owners weren't DIY capable doesn't mean they didn't have a friend or relative do wiring for them.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Outlet Tester

Plug it in at EVERY regular outlet in the house (not 220v outlets like for dryers/stoves)

Oh, I've got the plug-in and the non-contact tester.
Went through the house and found 4 other plugs that were reversed.
Better to find them now, rather than smell something later on when its too late.

It seems that switches (for lights, fans, etc) would be more common diy targets than outlets (which may be more of an initial install issue?). If so, is there a need to check wiring here? If yes, how?

I would call a well-qualified home electrician for a full house colonoscopy. And put the Fire Dept.on speed dial.

That sounds good...

What should I ask for when I call my favorite electrician for this "full house" colonoscopy ?

Serious question !

our current house, the builder (who is well known in this area, has done many subdivisions) used a new electrician


we moved in and realized we had no doorbell
button on the front porch,
the transformer thingy under the house
no interior doorbell

so we called, the electrician showed up,
says he was going to have to tear into this wall, run wires here and there, etc etc,

nope, says I,

I know for a fact there is a wire loop for the bell in this wall, and a hit somewhere in this area will find it,

no no no says the electrician,

yes yes yes says I, and since this is a warranty visit, I don't want you fucking up an entire wall, and since I was in this house 3-4 times a week when it was built, I recall seeing it there,

he knocked a hole, found the wire, and wired the new doorbell in a few minutes,

and left with his tail between his legs,

my guest bath still has the light and fan switch reversed, but it was best to live with that than have him fix it,


don't think he was used again,

My last electrician I hired to repair some faulty switches in an attached garage took one look at my problem and said, "I hope whoever wired the garage did not do the house"! He then offered a full house wire inspection of everything from the pole drop on down. Including the attic and crawlspace. The main issue turned out be some older switches and outlets needed attention. And it turned out to be my colonoscopy when I got the bill. But it was $$$ well spent.

This tester will show the common faults in outlet wiring or that you are good to go. Simple plug and play.

https://www.amazon.com/Recepta...d_i=B01AKX8L0M&psc=1