"The refrigerator was plugged into the range socket outlet, which had a live earth connection.
A homeowner had installed the range, connecting one of the two supply phases to the frame of the appliance."
Found something similar in bathroom of a 1915 house during a pre-purchase inspection. The switches for the bathroom lights were tapped off the original knob-and-tube circuit with romex. The DIYer had used an old 3-way switch in place of a single-pole. Since it had no ground screw and the installer had no clue what to do with the (floating) ground wire, he connected it to one of the traveller terminals. Result was: handle up, light on. Handle down, floating bare conductor energized. I disconnected the ground wire and added this atrocity to my long list of scary violations in this house.
Maybe later I'll describe the subfeeder!
