Spent 3 hours chasing a ground fault that was just a loose neutral in a junction box

Turned out to be a wire nut that wasn't tight enough behind a drywall patch. Has anyone else spent way too long on something that simple?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.taylor19d ago

Man, used to be I'd roll my eyes at guys who said "check the simple stuff first." Always figured I knew better, like there had to be some secret complicated reason something wasn't working. Then I spent a good two hours pulling my hair out over a light switch that turned out to be a cheap wire that just wasn't seated right in the backstab. Felt like a complete fool after that. Now I start EVERY fault with the most obvious, boneheaded thing first. It saves so much time and headache.

the_jordan19d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself. Used to skip straight to pulling out the multimeter and checking voltages, thinking I was too smart for the easy stuff. Now I always wiggle the wires and check the obvious first, feels way better than being humbled by a loose connection two hours later.