Spent three hours tracing a phantom voltage in a 1978 house in Portland

The owner called about a flickering light in the kitchen, but my Fluke meter showed a steady 120V at the fixture. The real issue was a bad neutral connection at a junction box behind the fridge that was backfeeding through the ground. Has anyone else found a weird fix for a problem that took forever to find?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia_hayes1d ago

My last phantom voltage hunt took two days and ended with a mouse nest in an outdoor disconnect. The little guy had chewed through the insulation and was basically a furry resistor. I felt so dumb for not checking there first. Those are the jobs that humble you fast. You fix it and just sit in the truck for a minute questioning all your life choices.

miller.eva16h ago

Sitting in the truck questioning your life choices? That's the best part. Those weird, hard jobs are the only ones that actually stick with you. Finding that chewed wire after two days of looking is a win, not a loss. It's proof you figured out a puzzle nobody else could. If every fix was easy, this job would just be boring.