Electrician signs off 'ganged neutrals'...now what?

[John Allingham]

Originally Posted by relliott

Just out of curiosity was that caused due to one of the neutrals becoming detached thus creating an arc fault.

When I did the inspection, the owner was not at home. I work from top to bottom, so the panel is one of the last things I check. All lights and outlets in the house worked properly.
When I opened the panel there was minor sparking and the lights went out in one area of the house. I closed the panel back up and recommended further evaluation by a licensed electrician.
I got a call later that night from the owner regarding lights that were out and making life less pleasant for him and I was responsible.
I convinced him to wait until the next day and get the electrician to show him the inside of the panel.
That night he called me to thank me for saving his life.
I called the electrician the next day. He wasn't very cooperative but did say that some screws on the neutral bus were loose. He was able to trim back the wires and use them.

[Pierre Belarge]

The condition shown in that picture can happen to any loose conductor. I doubt that occurred as a result of the one neutral being removed if there were more than one neutral per terminal.

You may want to explain that there is a potential for the equipment of the circuit if installed with a 3-wire circuit and the neutral being inadvertently being removed while energized could cause extensive damage to the equipment and even possibly a fire.