On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:14:07 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:08:15 GMT, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

jlatenight wrote:
My wife SWEARS that her hair dryer gets hotter when she uses it at
other people's houses. I seem to think that our George Forman grill
doesn't get as hot as I've seen in others' houses. Is this a
perception thing, or is there something with the power in our house
that would cause appliaces with heating elements to not get as hot as
other places? Is it something with the ol' W = V x A equasion? Could
there not be enough Amps to create enough Wattage to properly power
these types of devices that require a lot of Wattage?? Help!! Thanks
so much to all who respond!!

It certainly is possible.

It is easy to check. Any good volt meter will tell you what voltage you
have. I suggest measuring at the same outlet that the hair dryer and or
grill are plugged into. Measure with out anything else on and with the
dryer or grill on. You should be seeing about 120V with the devices off and
something a little less with it on. I am going to let someone else suggest
how much of a drop is acceptable for that kind of load.

If it is below 120V without a load, then you may have a wiring problem
in your home or a supply problem. If it is within your home it could be
dangerous. Maybe a floating neutral. It would be wise to have it checked.

If the voltage drop is related to the use of the equipment and is
greater that it should be, then it is almost certainly in your home and it
is dangerous, including possible bad connections, aluminum wiring issues.

I decided to try that on my receptacles. Most have drops less than 5V
(lowest near the breakers). However, I got higher drops at one (this
is the same circuit that had problems with my holiday lights. A lot of
those lights were flashing, and that showed at the fixed lights too).
This receptacle is at the end of a line where wires pass through 3
other receptacles which use those connections where you stick a wire
in a hole in the receptacle (no screws). Maybe I need to rewire those
(using pigtails on the screws?).

Whether this affects the hair dryer and all of that is hard to say,
but your xmas light issue sounds like a definate problem. Those
backstab outlets are bad news. Yes, rewire them using the screws.