@crutschow
I seriously doubt that the receptacle tester can tell the difference if ground and neutral is switched.
There are some testers (Ideal Sure Test) that can check for neutral bonds in the midddle of a run providing the tester is located > 20' from the real bond. This usually causes GFCI trips, so that kind of tester could help.
A decent electrician would have color coded (taped) the ends of the same colored wires. I can't remember if green can be taoed.
I would think that if te circuit was moved to a GFCI breaker or a GFCI recepacle was used for a test, you could tell if it was wired properly.
Clarification: Hook a GFCI receptacle into an unused circuit in the box. Make a cheater cord with alligator clips and plug into that recepacle. Disconnect a circuit an connect to the GFCI.
Now test,
Meaning:
1. Put a GFCI breaker/recepticle at the box temporarily
2, Put a circuit tracer on the wire and KNOW what the path is.
3, Certain tracers can find wires through the wall.
4. Map out the entire house and its circuits. At least what breaker controls what outlet.
The idea would be to:
1. Place a GFCI breaker or temprarily wire a receptacle at the box.
2. Plug a load into every outlet in that circuit. Idealy, you only need to use the last outlet. The one that doesn't daisy chain to the next.
If the GFCI trips whena load is plugged in, then the neutral or ground are crossed or incorrect somewhere.
Locating the cross, you would plug the load into outlets closer to the box.
So, to really do it right, you need a wiring map.
To guess:
1. Find out which recepacles are controlled by what breaker
2. Find the recepacle with one set of wires. Use that as the test.
You might need more sophisticated tools to find the layout.
In any event, using a temporary GFCI and plugging a load into every outlet on that circuit will tell you if things are wired correctly.
e.g If 3 outlets worked and two didn't, One of the two would be the end, onle likely will have one set of wires and te cross would be at the other one of the two.
Don't forget to include lights.