On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:19:18 GMT, "Toller" wrote:


"albee" wrote in message
news
Since I got such great help on my last problem...

This is actually for my neighbor. Since his house was built by the
same people, I gave him a heads-up about the backstabbed outlets.
Turns out he said his one bathroom and a patio outlet are only reading
70 volts. He doesn't know if they're on the same circuit or not. Any
thoughts? Thanks again!

There is only one way he could actually be getting 70v at an outlet. The
outlet is on a multiwire circuit that has lost its neutral; so one side is
seeing 70v and the other side is seeing 170v. Very dangerous situation;
also rather unlikely.

The other posibility is that you have an open circuit and the meter is
showing a false reading. Does a lamp work in the outlets? If it does, turn
it on at one outlet and measure the voltage at both that outlet and the
other bad one.

Well, I just went over and it tested at 5 volts or so, and down to
none. Now, fwiw, he says that when he put up a light fixture, he
drilled into the wall (awhile ago) and must've hit a wire, because he
got a short. But he continued on and hooked it up, and that light
works fine. So don't know if that helps diagnose this at all, though
I'm sure you guys will recommend checking behind the wall where he
drilled. He just doesn't want to have to do that, though.