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Electrical

Electrical socket - live and neutral reversed

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 2.50 PM

House is a 1930s semi in south Glasgow. Haven't touched any wiring in my house since I moved in. The other day we noticed we had no hot water. On inspecting the immersion tank in the loft I found that the plug it is attached to had blown (pretty badly - melted plastic etc). I've since read that immersion heaters shouldn't be connected to plugs due to the current draw etc. Anyway its worked fine for over a year until now. When I stuck a socket tester on the plug socket it tells me that the live and neutral is reversed. When I take off the face plate yes indeed, the socket has been wired correctly it seem (ie live wire to live terminal and neutral wire to neutral terminal) but both terminals are the opposite that anyone would expect (ie live terminal bottom left of the socket as you look at it)! Why would anyone do this? Is it safe? I stuck a light on the socket and it still works.

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2 Answers

JK Electrical

Rating: 5 out of 5

Glasgow

My advice would be to seek the services of a professional, qualified electrician. It may well be the case that the whole installation has reversed polarity and not just just the circuit supplying the sockets. Only by using the correct testing equipment can such a fault be detected. Just because something works does not necessarily mean that it has been installed correctly or is safe for continued use!

Answered11 July 2017

Philip Ricketts Electrical Contractor

Rating: 4.9 out of 5

Abingdon

Hi, As you quite rightly say an immersion should not be supplied by a 13 amp plug. There should be a separate 16amp circuit for this. Moving to the 'reversed polarity' issue, I assume this is a ring main? If so then at some point along the ring there may be a polarity miswire. You need to check this through every point until you find and correct it. In the UK we pay attention to this, on the continent it is not a problem as they use double pole miniture circuit breakers and no switches on their sockets. Regards Mike

Answered11 July 2017