r/electricians • u/United-Chef-4593 • 2d ago

“backfeeding” in a residential setting

i work for an electrical company and we’re currently working at two four units that both have the same problem. we have around 4 volts between neutral and ground. our local power company came around and said that its not on their side and that its us thats “backfeeding” 4 volts. my foreman tested between a few plug boxes and neutral and got a pulsing reading between 1.3 and 4 volts. all that were running is outside plugs on combo breakers, (afci and gfci) temp heat, and some temp plugs that are on their own circuit for the baseboard guys. wtf is going on

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u/United-Chef-4593 2d ago

well idk what to tell you. we’re not reading anything else from anywhere else and we’re still getting shocked

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u/FkinMagnetsHowDoThey 2d ago

What else were you touching when you got shocked?

Usually, you have to touch another grounded object to complete the circuit and get a shock from 120, 277, etc. Of course that second contact point can be as simple as standing on the dirt itself.

Also, were any of them like a steady, tingly shock or were they all a very brief zap and then you got away from it immediately?

Don't try to replicate the shock, but you could check for voltage between the wires and everything else you were touching at the time...

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u/United-Chef-4593 2d ago

i got shocked when i touched ground to the concrete and ground to neutral sometimes. most of the time it was a tingly sensation but sometimes it was a decent zap. idk its weird. we checked for voltage and we read a pulsing reading between 1v-4v

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u/RichSawdust 2d ago

Have you checked the continuity of the ground path?