There is one romex that runs from my box to the upstairs. This romex has 4 wires, black, red, white and green. The black wire goes to breaker 30, the red wire to breaker 32, the white wire to the neutral bar and GREEN TO BREAKER 22.
Breaker 22 is the mystery breaker, meaning I cannot find anything it directly powers.
Whilst 22 is on, outlets on 30 and 32 have reversed polarity, according to the plug-in tester.
If I then turn off either 30 or 32, it shows that ground and hot have been reversed on the one that was shut off.
My voltmeter shows 24V hot to neutral, hot to ground 90-100V and neutral to ground 120V.
If I turn 22 off,
30 and 32 show floating grounds. If I then turn off 32, 30's outlets go to "correct"
What I am thinking is that the green wire connected to breaker 22 was supposed to have been the ground.
It is very hard to get to the wiring, it does not go to the attic and down but rather up from the basement to the second floor. As such, I have not yet been able to find the other end of the romex to see exactly what was done with the green wire.
Is that what is going on here?
Best Answer
Omg turn off breaker 22 green can only be used as a ground . I believe someone had heard about multi wire branch circuits wired them wrong and tried to make them work. I would turn all 3 off until getting this corrected. Go up stairs pull the receptacles out white should be routed to each receptacle and attached to the silver screw. Green should go to each receptacle and go to the green screw, red and black are the hot(s) and should be split up black on the brass or gold screw and some with red on the brass or gold screw , if the tab is broken on the brass side red on 1 brass black on the other this will put 1 circuit on the top 1 on the bottom (I do this often) Move the green wire on breaker to the ground buss if the main panel the buss with white or green, This should get your receptacles working correctly. When you turn the breaker back on 30&32 they should have a handle tie or be a double pole (not 22).