Question for electricians: I am getting a reading of 80 volts on my 120 outlet in my bathroom?

Question

It is an old house and none of the circuits are grounded. Any troubleshootoing advice. Please don't answer "Call an electrician"

Answer 1

theres a lose neutral in that circuit if thats the only plug that is reading that, open the box and make sure the wires are screwed tight, if they are open other boxes that are in the same circuit and look for lose conections, need more info email me and i'll guide you through,

Answer 2

First, what type of meter are you using? Digital meters do not always indicate AC voltage accurately because they "sample" the analog value and display what they read relatively rapidly digitally. Others actually average the values over a short period of time and display that value. And yet others measure peak values and display that value. And still others, measure true RMS (root mean squared) values exactly as an analog meter does. The normal voltage of 115-120 volts is a RMS value. Assuming you are reading a true RMS value, then you have a poor electrical connection in a splice or terminal block somewhere between the house meter/breaker panel and the point where you are measuring. You will have to trace the actual path of the wires from the point where you are reading the voltage back to the panel where the power comes into your house and examine each and every point where one wire connects to another. One of these is corroded or loose which presents a resistence at that point in series with the measurement point. This is a fire hazard!!! If you plug in a load of any kind the voltage drop over the series resistence will produce heat at that point, and if it is in a wall or otherwise insulated, it could get hot enough to start a fire. Way back when, in the 30's and 40's, they ran wires mounted on insulators along the wooden studs and beams to get from the main distribution panel to the rest of the house, with fuses which screwed into a socket which was exactly like a light bulb does. People would put a penny into the socket when they ran out of fuses to bypass it, not a good idea, but it worked and resulted in other problems. Your house may have been upgraded to circuit breakers. Either way, somewhere from that panel to the point you are measuring is a poor connection. In the old wiring, they used screw clamps to splice wires, and terminal blocks with clamps to connect several wires together. In any place where two metals are in colse contact, corrosion can happen. Corrosion is a resistence. Current flow trough a resistence creates heat, with the ideal heat source being a space heater, designed to do only one thing, change electrical energy into heat. Grounding or not makes no difference, you have a corroded point or loose connection somewhere where there is a clamp or splice connecting two parts of the curcuit. Your problem is to find it, remove the corrosion or tighten the clamp and restore the connection to good order or you risk fire.

Answer 3

80 volts where?

You should read 120 volts from hot (vertical contact on right) to neutral (vertical contact on left).

You should also read 120 volts from hot to ground (round contact on bottom)

You should also read 0 (or close to 0) from neutral to ground.

The FIRST thing I'd do is make sure your outlets are grounded properly. Other than that, I'm sorry to say this, but you need to "call an electrician". It's just too easy to die screwing around with this stuff if you don't know what you are doing.

Answer 4

You have a loose or a corroded connection. Check all receptacles on that circuit for voltage. If you only have one receptacle at 80 volts, check the terminations and splices at that location. Make sure wires are completely under the screw, connections are clean and screws are tight.

Answer 5

Thanks but i found the problem. The breaker panel was grounded to the water pipe coming to the house was a bad connection so i loosened it and reconnected it. I now have 120 volts. in the spring i am going to put in a 8 foot ground rod to meet todays code. House was built in 1963 does not meet todays code. In my city where I live anyway It is our code . Call your elect. inspector of course it may be a nation wide code.

Answer 6

Bad connection at outlet or at supply, there is a voltage drop because there is some resistance in the circuit, Probably corroded connection.....Nuf Said