When one wire is close to another AC wire, there is some
power that is transferred by magnetic waves. Your VOM is
probably reading this "ghost voltage". There is probably not
enough amperage to do anything useful. But, your VOM is
very sensetive.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Mike Reed" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I plugged our vacuum in to the GFI in the kitchen, and when
I turned
it on, I heard a "pop" and assumed it was the GFI that
needed to be
reset for some reason. Well, the GFI plug was acting
completely dead.

I pulled it out of the wall, pulled off the line wires and
tested
them
bare.

40V?!?!?!

This circuit was fine this morning and has been installed
for years.
We recently remodeled and moved a couple plugs around, but
they've
been working fine for months (all on the GFI).

The breaker goes both directions with a positive click just
like the
rest. This all started with the vac switch. I turned around
and used
the vac on a different circuit with no problem.

Any chance someone's seen this before?

Thanks!