Why does nobody talk about checking the neutral first on a call?

I was troubleshooting a flickering light in a house in Tempe for like an hour last week. Kept checking the switch and the fixture, thinking it was a bad connection. My buddy, who was just there to grab a tool, said 'did you meter the neutral at the panel?' I hadn't. It was loose on the bus bar the whole time. Has anyone else had a simple panel check save them a ton of headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliver_morgan1mo agoMost Upvoted

Waste of time" until it's the ONLY thing that fixes it.

kelly3851mo ago

Yeah, I mean @mia748 is right, you gotta start at the problem.

mia7481mo ago

Honestly that seems like a waste of time to check first. You start at the problem and work back. Checking the panel right away is just skipping steps. Most flickers are at the device or a junction box, not the panel. You'll spend more time walking back and forth for no reason. The method you used is the right way, you just got unlucky that one time.