I was replacing a light switch, and in the junction box there is a romex that comes in where the hot was cut and shoved back in the back. The neutral from the same romex wire is connected to the other neutrals. In our attic there is 3 feet of blown in insulation so it's impossible to see where that line goes, but I was wondering if there would be any reason that this neutral being disconnected would cause any harm, any danger, or affect anything else? If the hot wire is not connected, I don't know why they would have the neutral still connected. (We just moved into this house and there are countless electrical jerry rigging done throughout.
Can I safely disconnect the neutral that matches with the disconnected hot wire?
Best Answer
Be very careful.
If you disconnect the neutral from a device while the hot is still connected then the disconnected neutral conductor will become live.
Hots and the corresponding neutrals are normally supposed to run together and neutrals for different circuits are supposed to be kept separate. However just because something is supposed to happen doesn't mean it always does happen.
What I would personally do is turn off all power (not just the circuit you think is involved) and disconnect and cap-off the rogue Neutral. Then turn the power back on and go round the house to see if anything stopped working.