power of electricity

All I could afford wrote:

Say, that looks a lot like my house. :B

When you live in a home built in the early 40's there is only one outlet in each room. Try plugging all of your entertainment equipment in and it ends up looking kinda like that.

DrewE wrote:

csamayfield55 wrote:

DrewE wrote:

This is not a likely answer at all. Neutral and ground are only tied together (bonded) at the main panel. If neutral and ground are connected together in a device or elsewhere, that is a ground fault and a dangerous situation. No appliance with a standard three-prong 120V cord should have neutral and ground tied together.

If the neutral were open, three prong devices would fail to operate just as much as two prong devices would fail to operate.

Possibly the outlet is loose and the candle warmer's plug isn't making contact while other plugs are shaped or bent slightly differently and are making contact. Possibly other things were plugged into other outlets in the RV. Possibly the GFCI has tripped and the candle warmer outlet is protected by it.

So you have never seen an outlet with an open neutral? Not saying it is safe at all actually not a good plan but it does happen and can

Chris

I have seen outlets (or cords or whatever) with an open neutral. They are, for all practical purposes, dead in as much as nothing plugged into them will work, even if the things have a three prong plug, precisely because the safety ground is not a current return except under fault conditions. They certainly do not exhibit the symptom of "everything except this one device works."

Ya, I'm not a electrician but, I think if you have a open neutral then anything plugged into that outlet is not going to work.

jgeary wrote:
Just bought a receptacle checker

And the results are.........

turbojimmy wrote:
Not sure about the electrical issue, but the easiest thing to do is actually light the wick on the candle. That's what makes it a candle.

It is not a candle

Not sure about the electrical issue, but the easiest thing to do is actually light the wick on the candle. That's what makes it a candle.

My guess is a worn out outlet. Plug not making contact
However there are other suspects, Longer post eaten by Reset Bug

csamayfield55 wrote:

DrewE wrote:

This is not a likely answer at all. Neutral and ground are only tied together (bonded) at the main panel. If neutral and ground are connected together in a device or elsewhere, that is a ground fault and a dangerous situation. No appliance with a standard three-prong 120V cord should have neutral and ground tied together.

If the neutral were open, three prong devices would fail to operate just as much as two prong devices would fail to operate.

Possibly the outlet is loose and the candle warmer's plug isn't making contact while other plugs are shaped or bent slightly differently and are making contact. Possibly other things were plugged into other outlets in the RV. Possibly the GFCI has tripped and the candle warmer outlet is protected by it.

So you have never seen an outlet with an open neutral? Not saying it is safe at all actually not a good plan but it does happen and can

Chris

I have seen outlets (or cords or whatever) with an open neutral. They are, for all practical purposes, dead in as much as nothing plugged into them will work, even if the things have a three prong plug, precisely because the safety ground is not a current return except under fault conditions. They certainly do not exhibit the symptom of "everything except this one device works."

DrewE wrote:

csamayfield55 wrote:

Michelle.S wrote:
Question: Is the Candle Warmer just a 2 prong plug? And is it possible that the items that do work are 3 prong? If so it could be an open Neutral on that outlet. Just a thought since generally somewhere the Ground a Neutral are usually tied together.

DING DING DING!!!! I bet this is the answer right here!

She said that if she plugs in something else it works. That tells me it has power but is not feeding through the neutral leg but is going from hot to ground.

You really should have one of these in your RV. It is cheap and very useful.
receptacle checker

BTW, a candle warmer is a little dish that warms candle wax up without burning to let the aromatics out ( OK, I just had to give up a man card for that!!)

Chris

This is not a likely answer at all. Neutral and ground are only tied together (bonded) at the main panel. If neutral and ground are connected together in a device or elsewhere, that is a ground fault and a dangerous situation. No appliance with a standard three-prong 120V cord should have neutral and ground tied together.

If the neutral were open, three prong devices would fail to operate just as much as two prong devices would fail to operate.

Possibly the outlet is loose and the candle warmer's plug isn't making contact while other plugs are shaped or bent slightly differently and are making contact. Possibly other things were plugged into other outlets in the RV. Possibly the GFCI has tripped and the candle warmer outlet is protected by it.

So you have never seen an outlet with an open neutral? Not saying it is safe at all actually not a good plan but it does happen and can

Chris

Electric candle warmer
I'm other words an air freshener, that plugs into the outlet, it has a small heating element