On Mon, Nov 4, 2024 at 12:28 PM, Bob wrote:
You mentioned never open the neutral. Earlier talking about a shock by touching the stove and refrigerator, I mentioned it could possibly be an open neutral. Do you agree?
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Hi Bob,
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Hmmm... interesting.I suppose it's possible. Although, if the neutral were completely open, one of those appliances would probably not be working correctly. It is possible that it could be a "bad" neutral connection (high resistance), somewhere on the neutral circuit,? but even then, something would probably be malfunctioning.
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But (IMHO),? getting a shock from two different appliances is an indicator of a hot-line shorted to the ground/frame (like a defective heating element in the stove, or a defective refrigeration compressor, fan, etc, in the fridge)... combined with a bad (or improper) grounding conductor. One of the two appliances is "hot" relative to ground.
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Have you checked - with a volt-meter - the potential difference between the stove and the refer? Obviously, if both are properly grounded, there should be essentially zero-volts between them. I would check for proper grounding at the receptacles, to start.
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Is it an electric stove? If so, and depending upon the type of supply receptacle (either 3-wire or 4-wire), there are requirements for proper ground-bonding inside the stove.
In older homes, 3-wire recep's were commonly used, with two hots and a neutral (to provide the 120-240v). Inside the stove (inside the back, where the cord terminates), there is a small bonding jumper, which connects (bonds) the stove's frame to the white neutral conductor. This is one of the few exceptions in the Code where equipment can be "grounded" using the neutral. The neutral serves dual-duty as the both the "grounded" and "grounding" conductor. (Some electric clothes-dryer installations did the same thing).
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In newer installations (I wanna say in the late 80's, early 90's), Code requirements changed, and stoves/ranges (and dryers) require a 4-wire connection and receptacle. Thus, the neutral & ground concuctors are separated (as they should be).
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All that said, you should pull your stove out and check it. Unplug it, and if it has a 3-wire plug, then pull the stove's terminal cover off (where the cord goes in) and verify that the white cord conductor (usually the lug in the middle) has the bonding jumper attached, to the stove's metal frame (it might be a small seperate green wire, connected to the white cord wire lug).
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If it is a 4-wire cord/plug, then the white wire should go ONLY to the white/neutral stove connection lug, and the green/ground wire should go ONLY to the frame/metal/ground connection, with NO bonding jumper between them.
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If those connections all look good, then there could be an issue with the house's wiring (unlikely)... but very likely an issue with one of the appliances themselves (highly likely).
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Good luck!
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73,
~Alan
Bob
