Electrical Mystery

[Bill Dufour]

I bought. abuzz box welder and could barely get it to work. Turns out the DPO had interchanged ground and hot. So it was running at 120 not 240 volts and all the metal cabinet was at 120 volts. I had it plugged into the dryer outlet so it was a easy reach to the laundry sink faucet.
Bill D

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I bought. abuzz box welder and could barely get it to work. Turns out the DPO had interchanged ground and hot. So it was running at 120 not 240 volts and all the metal cabinet was at 120 volts. I had it plugged into the dryer outlet so it was a easy reach to the laundry sink faucet.
Bill D

I grabbed ahold of a window air conditioner that was wired like that. I was standing on an aluminum ladder. I managed to let go and not fall.
In the 50's or 60's There was a misguided trend to replace two prong outlets with grounded outlets and connect the ground to the neutral. This house had that modification + reversed polarity on that AC outlet.

I wonder if the trick of using a lawnmower magneto and a radio would work to find a fault in a wire hidden inside a wall.