open ground reading

[mgruft]

I have an old house with mostly k+t wiring and in one room only both duplex outlets read "open ground" with my tester. All other outlets in the house read correctly.The only other duplex in another room that is also on this circuit reads correctly. I believe this circuit runs most of my overhead lights.

When I test with the multimeter I cannot get 120V between hot and the ground socket either but when I meter continuity between the neutral in the central light socket and the neutrals in each duplex they show connectivity so.....

any ideas?

[Charles Schuler]

Knob and tube wiring that was modified with grounded outlets (they were added) would explain this.

No ground wire, no 120 from hot to ground!

[Doug Miller]

Knob and tube is a two-wire system. No ground wire available = open ground at the outlet.

No big surprise -- the multimeter is simply telling you the same thing the tester is: there's nothing connected to the ground terminal.

So your neutrals are continuous. No surprise there either: if they weren't, you would have noticed something not working, before now. What happens when you check continuity between neutral in the light socket and *ground* at the receptacles?

[CJT]

Neutral and ground aren't the same wire.