While inspecting the breaker box in my shop area I noticed inside the breaker box was a ground wire that was loose inside the box.
The other circuits had grounds connected to the neutral bar.
Upon further inspection I noticed the loose ground wire had touched the inside edge of the breaker box and at some point had arced against the breaker box itself.
Upon even further inspection it appears the ground wire itself was presently hot.. although nothing was plugged into the single outlet for this circuit (30 amp 125v travel trailer hookup)
I turned off the circuit breaker and traced the circuit to an outdoor outlet that looks very old.
My question:
was the problem likely with the outlet? (many dead bugs and webs inside the outlet)
Can I just order a new outlet and hook it up ? Should I go ahead and reconnect the ground to the neutral bar?
The shop was built long ago by the person I bought the house from.. the breaker box doesn't appear to have a grounding bar at all which makes sense because there is no grounding electrode outside. The shop has independent electricity with it's own drop not connected to the house main box.
I'm a certified home inspector (took a class for my own benefit not for a profession) but I was trained to simply notice when it isn't correct and tell them to get an electrician to inspect it further.
What do you think about a new outlet and hooking the ground back up to the box?