110 current

[luigi49]

I have an outlet that my dishwasher is plugged in as well as my disposer.  My dishwasher stopped today so I measured the voltage thats coming out of the outlet and it measured 10 volt.  Should I reset the breaker switch?  What causes this to happen?  If its the breaker switch, shouldn't it be 0 current coming out of the outlet?

[Spork]

I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN!

Ok, that's out of the way.  Yes, that's messed up.  Resetting the breaker sure can't hurt.

I would want to check the tightness of connections -- for example at the panel, the receptacle and any connections between.  You might also measure voltage without the receptacle in there (i.e., voltmeter on the bare wires) to make sure the receptacle is good.  Then I'd try to trace the circuit back and identify all the devices on it... and check each of those devices and connections.

Seeing as this is a kitchen/wet area, there is also likely a GFI involved somewhere... These do go bad... so check the voltage on the line and load side of the GFI if you find one.

The dishwasher/disposer are likely on 2 different circuits (with the little tab on the receptacle snipped).  Make sure you're cutting the right circuit(s) at the panel!  Make sure both of those circuits are dead before you start pulling stuff apart.

[luigi49]

Thanks its working again.  There is a ghost in that line i think.

[topshot]

I'd be wondering why the breaker tripped since that is a sign something isn't right. The D/W should be on it's own circuit if following the NEC. It's possible your jurisdiction doesn't or the house was built before that became code so you could have several other items on the same circuit and some were drawing max power at once and tripped it. BTW, voltage and current are two very different things. You're outlet should measure near 120 volts if you're in the US, but max current on that circuit would be 15 or at most 20 amps.

[lthenderson]

You didn't say whether you were measuring from hot to ground or from hot to neutral when you measured 6 volts. Depending on how you measured it, it could signal other problems on the same circuit that weren't fixed by just resetting the breaker.

[Syonyk]

Thanks its working again.  There is a ghost in that line i think.

Ghosts don't live in power wiring.  Power wiring hides more malicious demons like "floating neutral" and "loose connection thermal runaway."

If it keeps acting up, call an electrician.  "Weird" problems in house wiring usually mean something, somewhere is very much not right, and that's all sorts of bad with wiring, especially on higher amperage circuits.

[luigi49]

You didn't say whether you were measuring from hot to ground or from hot to neutral when you measured 6 volts. Depending on how you measured it, it could signal other problems on the same circuit that weren't fixed by just resetting the breaker.

I measured this from hot to neutral.  Which is the 2 prongs that go in the outlet.

[BTDretire]

You didn't say whether you were measuring from hot to ground or from hot to neutral when you measured 6 volts. Depending on how you measured it, it could signal other problems on the same circuit that weren't fixed by just resetting the breaker.

I measured this from hot to neutral.  Which is the 2 prongs that go in the outlet.

If you used a modern digital multimeter with a 10 Megaohm input impedance,
 it is fairly common to see a voltage on a line that should not have any voltage on it.
 It is usually just an induced voltage (capacitive) picked up from other wires near it, maybe back at the circuit breaker box. If you put any load across the wires it would go away.
 Plug a nitelight or lamp into the top outlet of the duplex and measure the bottom outlet.
I'll bet your 10 volts is gone.

[Spork]

You didn't say whether you were measuring from hot to ground or from hot to neutral when you measured 6 volts. Depending on how you measured it, it could signal other problems on the same circuit that weren't fixed by just resetting the breaker.

I measured this from hot to neutral.  Which is the 2 prongs that go in the outlet.

If you used a modern digital multimeter with a 10 Megaohm input impedance,
 it is fairly common to see a voltage on a line that should not have any voltage on it.
 It is usually just an induced voltage (capacitive) picked up from other wires near it, maybe back at the circuit breaker box. If you put any load across the wires it would go away.
 Plug a nitelight or lamp into the top outlet of the duplex and measure the bottom outlet.
I'll bet your 10 volts is gone.

It's worth pointing out: The OP says this is a receptacle with dishwasher/disposer.  If you're doing that you want to verify they're on the same circuit and that the disposer is switched on.  It's very common to use one receptacle there and snip the tab, turning it into 2 separately wired receptacles that may or may not be on the same circuit.

[BTDretire]

You didn't say whether you were measuring from hot to ground or from hot to neutral when you measured 6 volts. Depending on how you measured it, it could signal other problems on the same circuit that weren't fixed by just resetting the breaker.

I measured this from hot to neutral.  Which is the 2 prongs that go in the outlet.

If you used a modern digital multimeter with a 10 Megaohm input impedance,
 it is fairly common to see a voltage on a line that should not have any voltage on it.
 It is usually just an induced voltage (capacitive) picked up from other wires near it, maybe back at the circuit breaker box. If you put any load across the wires it would go away.
 Plug a nitelight or lamp into the top outlet of the duplex and measure the bottom outlet.
I'll bet your 10 volts is gone.

It's worth pointing out: The OP says this is a receptacle with dishwasher/disposer.  If you're doing that you want to verify they're on the same circuit and that the disposer is switched on.  It's very common to use one receptacle there and snip the tab, turning it into 2 separately wired receptacles that may or may not be on the same circuit.

  Good point, I was trying to give him an easy way to load the dead circuit to drop the
the floating wire voltage.