View Single Post
  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
dpb dpb is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12,595
Default Simple electrical question

** Frank ** wrote:
I have a clothes dryer with a 120VAC push to start button. In measuring the
terminals, both sides are hot (120V) with respect to ground and zero volts
across the two terminals. Why is that?

I thought there was a short on one side of the push button but the dryer is
working properly. Normally it should be hot only on one side.


First guess is there are more terminals and you're measuring two inputs
or an auxiliary feed/interlock.

Second is perhaps you're using a high-impedance meter and one of these
is a so-called "phantom" voltage...as Jeff is getting ready to try to
determine.

Try a neon tester or a light bulb on a set of leads and see if the
voltage is still there on both terminals if there really aren't any others.

--