If the neutral wire is off an outlet will the ground wire complete the connection?
Is the ground screw connected inside the outlet to the neutral side of the outlet?
.

 

No and no.

 

My real problem WAS, in my motor home, several years ago, I wired an outlet incorrectly and
I just found the error. I had connected both the neutral and hot wires on the same side of an outlet.
I think it should have thrown a breaker but it didn't. The outlet and 3 outlets down steam all worked
fine. I contacted the outlet manufacture, looking for an answer as to how it could have worked
and not throw the breaker. Their tech support couldn't answer my question. The only way I can see
a completion of the circuit is that the ground wire carried the load. Still, no answer as to why the
direct connection of the neutral and hot didn't throw the breaker.The plate between the hot side
screws was and still is in one piece. I corrected the wiring last week and everything is working.
I was not away of a problem till last week when I plugged my motor home into an extension cord
and sparks flew every ware. That is when I went looking for a short only to find the miss wired outlet.

 

Sometimes the two screws on a single side are separated by a "break-off" tab, so that one outlet can be switched. Otherwise, you just wired a short circuit. If that didn't blow the breaker, then you have another wiring error somewhere else.

 

The ground will carry the current if it is incorrectly connected as neutral in an outlet.
The reason is that the ground and neutral are connected together at the mains' breaker box.
And that's why connecting the together at the outlet didn't blow the breaker.

If the extension cord caused sparks, that could mean the hot and neutral were incorrectly reversed somewhere.
That would then connect the hot to ground from your miswire.

 

Sometimes the two screws on a single side are separated by a "break-off" tab, so that one outlet can be switched. Otherwise, you just wired a short circuit. If that didn't blow the breaker, then you have another wiring error somewhere else.

When I got the sparks at the extension cord I disconnected all my neutrals from the breaker box and checked for voltage from them to neutral
bar. The only one showing any voltage was the one with the outlet incorrectly wired. That is when I started checking that line of outlets for the problem. The second outlet was the one I had the neutral and hot wire on the same side of the plug. There were no wires connected to the neutral side. The only other wire connected to the outlet was the bare ground wire on the green ground screw. Note in my original post I noted that the plate below the hot and neutral wires where they were attached was still solid. The tab has not been removed to isolate the socket holes. This outlet and all the outlets down stream worked. Never threw the breaker. Did you see the sketch I attached?

 

The ground will carry the current if it is incorrectly connected as neutral in an outlet.
The reason is that the ground and neutral are connected together at the mains' breaker box.
And that's why connecting the together at the outlet didn't blow the breaker.

If the extension cord caused sparks, that could mean the hot and neutral were incorrectly reversed somewhere.
That would then connect the hot to ground from your miswire.

Crutschow,
Did you see my reply to SLK001? Can you add anything else. The only way I can see the outlet was working was that the
ground wire was completing the circuit. That is why I asked if the ground screw was connected to the neutral inside the
outlet. Any comments on that.

 

Did you see the sketch I attached?

Yes, I did. As I said, if the tab was there, then you would have had an IMMEDIATE short circuit. If you didn't immediately trip the breaker, then there was a wiring error elsewhere in that circuit. These are absolutes.

 

Okay, I misunderstood.
As SLK001 stated if you had wired hot to neutral it should have immediately blown the breaker, so there has to have been some other wiring error somewhere.

I would get one of those plug-in hot-neutral-ground detectors and try it in all your outlets.

 

Okay, I misunderstood.
As SLK001 stated if you had wired hot to neutral it should have immediately blown the breaker, so there has to have been some other wiring error somewhere.

I would get one of those plug-in hot-neutral-ground detectors and try it in all your outlets.

Ya, I closed the door after the cows go out. After I had correctly wired the incorrectly wired plug, I did
get one if the plug in testers and I checked every plug in the motor home. All of them gave me the two
light good reading.My wife is happy she is no longer getting bit when she touches any thing metal. I
went and bought another outlet last night so I could take it apart and figure out how that outlet worked
when it was incorrectly wired. Still don't have an answer. I do better understand the outlet but still
don't know how it could have worked. I'm beginning to think this is one of those unanswered questions
I will have to live with. If this outlet wasn't so hard to get to I would be tempted to wire it back the way
it was just to see how it could have possibly worked. If I do that I will get back to you guys and report
any findings. Thanks for looking at my problem and for your input.

 

You can wire the outlet incorrectly and it may still work. Remember the days when all outlets and appliances were two-wire circuits. It didn't matter if L and N were reversed going to the appliance.

One exception was there were some tube radios that had no power transformer. The tube filaments were all wired in series with a high wattage resistor to drop the voltage. The radio chassis was also wired to the AC mains. This meant that you got an electrical shock if you touched the metal parts of the radio and the AC plug was plugged in a certain way.

Some audio electronics produce a lot of AC hum. Sometimes reversing the two-pronged AC plug would fix the problem.