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I finally stopped using cheap outlet testers after a $1,200 fryer repair job in Austin last year
Used to think a three-light tester was good enough until it said a neutral was fine but the line voltage was actually 128v and I fried a control board on a commercial floor model, so has anyone else switched to a full multimeter for every call?
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john_cooper6d ago
@umathompson nailed it with the bootleg ground thing. Those cheap testers just check for voltage presence, not actual wiring integrity, and that's how you end up chasing ghosts. A proper meter with a non-contact voltage detector built right in has saved me more than once from a situation where a neutral was carrying load but the tester showed nothing. Learned that lesson the hard way too after a similar call in San Antonio where a floating neutral was messing with a thermostat board.
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