problems with house electricty, solutions sought

**bardos** · 05-22-2009, 12:18 AM

where to begin?

to begin: at the moment my question revolves around my electric oven. when i connect it, all hell breaks loose, that is my sink gets electrified, the metal gas line behind it gives shocks.

i pulled out the plug from the oven to the wall outlet, the oven by the way functions perfectly. the oven itself has 3 wires. brown, blue and yellow (ground). I turn on my multimeter to continuity check, which always reads "1" at start. i checked for continuity with my multimeter and i get a readout of 1900 or something like that between the brown and blue. I mean, shouldn't this be absolutely "1", no connection at all?

and, in all the house circuitry, when i do a continuity check between the positive and negative (is this correct terminology?) holes in the outlets, i get continuity. that is, a connection. As well as continuity between the ground and any other wire. my fuses do not blow or anything. Is any of this normal?

thanks

**jadnashua** · 05-22-2009, 06:23 AM

It sounds like you are using the meter incorrectly...

You CANNOT check, using the ohms scale, continuity with power applied. Doing so will either ruin the meter, or if you are lucky, just blow the fuse. On the continuity scale, 1(max) is open, zero is a direct short.

You have a serious problem that under the right circumstances, could kill you or someone in the area.

It sounds to me like your neutral is open. This would likely burn out the oven things like the lamp and timer, etc. The burners don't need the neutral, nor does the oven, so they could continue to work.

On new stoves, they are designed with a 4-wire plug. Two hot wires, neutral, and safety ground. In the stove, neutral and ground are potentially bonded together in a 4-wire circuit (depending on age of the stove), and must be if you feed it with a 3-wire plug.

Check the screws where the neutral comes in...both in the recepticle in the wall and at the plug and stove.

Since you don't appear to be very familiar with the use of a meter, you should probably call a pro. Do all of your checking with the fuse or circuit breaker off unless you are checking for voltage, where, obviously, it must be on.

I highly suggest you get a pro to fix this before you get hurt.

**jimbo** · 05-22-2009, 06:42 AM

The 1900 ( we don't know what scale you are on, could be ohms or kohms. ) But assuming it is ohms, you are reading the resistance of a pilot light, a burner switch, or something. Or a faulty wiring.

There is no circumstance where you should be testing the continuity between the two blades on a receptacle. If you did this while the power was on, then you have probably fried your meter, and even if the power was off, the reading doesn't tell you anything.

The problem may revolve around the status of the neutral wire in the plug for the stove. ( Inside the receptacle should be two black, or a black and red, or black and blue, these are the hots....and a white neutral. There is not a ground connection in a 3 wire stove receptacle, and that is why issues like you have can crop up.

**tjbaudio** · 05-22-2009, 07:48 AM

Where are you located? Those colours do not sound right. Are they the wires in the stove, the cord, or the wall outlet? Also is the gas line connected to the stove in some way? What other problems are you having?

By connecting your continuity checker across the outlets you may have damaged the checker. The proper use of a meter takes some learning and is not something to be done over the internet. Call an electrician before you or a loved one gets severely hurt.

The proper terms are:
Hot
Neutral
Ground

**Billy_Bob** · 05-22-2009, 08:27 AM

I totally agree with everyone else!

Call an electrician today!

Have them check the main connections in your main panels as well as your main electric system grounds.

**220/221** · 05-22-2009, 09:29 AM

Have the electrician look at the neutral/ground connections and path back to the panel.

**Thatguy** · 05-22-2009, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by bardos

I turn on my multimeter to continuity check, which always reads "1" at start.

"1" probably means "infinity" for your meter. When you touch the leads together you should read "0".

i checked for continuity with my multimeter and i get a readout of 1900 or something like that between the brown and blue. I mean, shouldn't this be absolutely "1", no connection at all?

If the power was on, the meter may be responding to this overload, and indicating that it is overloaded. If the power was off there may be 1900 ohms between these two leads from the some other household appliance.

and, in all the house circuitry, when i do a continuity check between the positive and negative (is this correct terminology?) holes in the outlets, i get continuity. that is, a connection. As well as continuity between the ground and any other wire. my fuses do not blow or anything. Is any of this normal?
thanks

If the power was on, the meter may be responding to this overload, and indicating that it is overloaded.