“Cheaters” – I really have a problem with them!
When you cheat, whether it is in a game or sport, or even a test at school, not only are you lying, but you are also creating the illusion that you have done or are capable of doing something that you are not. You have created this illusion in someone else’s mind. You have lied to them. But cheating in a game or sport, or even on a test, usually can only bring harm to one person, the person cheating.
However, when you cheat an electrical tester that is designed to test whether or not the receptacle in your home is correctly installed and is safe to use, you are not only lying to the customer, you are potentially putting their life at risk.
The other day I was on a service call for a very nice lady. She called us because she was having an issue with a circuit in her home that continued to trip her circuit breaker. She was concerned that something was wrong with the circuit, and wanted Captain Electric to have a look at it. I diagnosed a dead short on the circuit and repaired the problem with that circuit. While I was there, I decided to have a look at the other receptacle on the circuit to make sure things were safe. I started to remove a receptacle and discovered that a jumper had been installed between the neutral and ground screw on the receptacle. I removed the next receptacle and found the same thing. I found 4 receptacles in total that were installed this way.
Someone had installed this jumper so that anyone who plugged in a tester would receive a valid polarity reading, instead of an open ground. They created a false ground reading, they deliberately “cheated” the tester.
Whether the person was aware of this or not, when they cheated the tester, it was in fact putting a life in danger. Not only were they giving a false sense of ground at these receptacles, they were also creating a new path for the neutral conductor, a current carrying conductor. Normally, the neutral conductor has a direct path back to the ground at the panel. By attaching the neutral wire to the ground screw on the receptacle, this current carrying conductor now had the path to the device plate, the electrical box, the framing (if metal), and perhaps any metal parts of an appliance or device plugged into these receptacles.
This was an Electrical Code violation, a Code put in place to keep things safe and potentially save lives. Whoever cheated this tester was breaking the law and putting lives at risk.
This person was trying to show that these receptacles were safe, that they had a ground or bond conductor. Whether he knew it or not, he had other options and he willingly chose to “cheat” and as I said at the beginning I have a real problem with cheaters.
EM