OT for a sec: US wiring sources of info

[Ethan Dicks]

On 10/7/05, Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> We've got a cable decoder box here that trips out the house breakers
> when plugged into certain outlets - irrespective of whether it's via a
> surge protector (probably not surprising there) or of what other loads
> might be sharing the same wiring to that outlet.
>
> It works fine in other outlets though, which seems like a strange
> problem - but I have no idea how US houses are wired (and the wiring in
> this place is ancient anyway!)

Check to see that you don't have neutral and hot swapped in certain
outlets.  One painless way is an outlet tester sold at places like
Radio Shack and Lowe's.  You can test with a voltmeter, if that's
easier, but the pre-fab tester lights up properly when plugged into a
properly-wired outlet, eliminating confusion.

In older houses, I've seen miswired outlets lots of times.  My house
had two when I moved in , for example.  Most appliances, especially
lighting fixtures, don't care.  Best to identify and correct, anyway.

-ethan