On 5/16/2013 9:23 PM, wrote:
On May 16, 8:16 pm, bilfre wrote:
On 2013-05-16 16:17:16 +0000, said:

That voltage drop is excessive. The National Electric Code specifies
a drop of no more than 5% from the breaker box to the furthest outlet
at full load (Note that a 1500 watt load is about 85% of full load).

Checking the drop at various points from the breaker box to the outlet
supplying the computer is a good idea. The faq at
http://www.psihq.com/iread/faqvolt.htmalso has suggestions.

PlainBill

Hi PlainBill,

Thanks for the response and the link. I will go back to my friends
and look for the problem. I suspect there is a loose connection at one
end or the other since it seems to be intermittent. Checked my own
wiring with same load and only had a 4 volt drop.

billfre

Your own experience is more typical. 10 V is excessive. Aluminum
wiring??? I would be careful not to keep the load on continuously
just in case there is some heating somewhere in the walls. P = IV =
20 x 10 = 200Watts, probably not enuf to start a fire but just in
case!!!

I could have started a fire in my home a few years ago.
I plugged a couple of chest freezers into an outlet with out trouble
for a couple of years. One evening I smelled a burned plastic smell in
our living room. I could not isolate it before I didn't smell it. A week
or three passed and the smell recurred, this time I moved a TV away
from the wall and found the plug was hot and slightly deformed. The
outlet was also hot.
I removed the paneling and found the wiring looped through this outlet
on it way to the one I plugged the freezers into. The connection to the
outlet was poor and caused the heating with the extra current going to
the freezers. The heat over time had caused the 35 year old outlet to
pretty much crumble during removal.
So, I guess I would say, make sure that most of that voltage drop is
NOT at one outlet.
Mikek