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Unpopular opinion: a $12 outlet tester saved me from burning down my own garage
I rewired the outlet by the workbench in my garage last month and was sure it was fine. Plugged in a $12 tester from Ace and it lit up with an open ground plus reversed hot and neutral, so I had two mistakes hiding in one box. Took me 20 minutes to fix what would have been a nasty surprise the first time I ran the table saw. Anyone else keep a cheap tester in the toolbox for peace of mind?
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faith_schmidt1h ago
That "two mistakes hiding in one box" part is the thing that gets me. The reversed hot and neutral is the sneaky one because half the stuff you plug in will still work fine, so you never know it's wrong until something with a switch or a metal case bites you. A lamp doesn't care which wire is which. Your table saw motor might not care either. But the switch on it only cuts the hot wire if it's wired right, so a reversed outlet means the switch is killing the neutral and the tool stays live even when it looks off. That's the part that actually hurts people, more than the ground in some cases. Good catch.
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