Wiring Verification: Polarity, Terminals, and Common Receptacle Faults
At startup you confirm devices are wired correctly. Getting polarity and grounding right is a safety issue, not just a formality.
1. Which wire goes where
| Conductor | Terminal | Memory aid |
|---|---|---|
| Hot (ungrounded) | brass / gold screw | brass = "hot brass" |
| Neutral (grounded) | silver screw | silver = neutral |
| Ground (EGC) | green screw | green = ground |
On the receptacle face, the wider (taller) slot is the neutral; the narrow slot is hot; the round hole is ground. Correct polarity means hot lands on brass and neutral on silver.
2. Common faults (what a 3-light tester finds)
- Reversed polarity: hot and neutral swapped. Dangerous — normally "neutral" exposed parts (like a lamp's screw shell) become energized.
- Open ground: the EGC path isn't connected — no fault-clearing path for the device.
- Open neutral: the return path is broken — the load won't operate, and you can get erratic or "floating" voltage.
- Bootleg ground: neutral jumpered to the ground terminal to fake a ground — a dangerous, prohibited practice that puts the EGC/enclosure at neutral potential and defeats real grounding.