On Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:04:35 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

TimR wrote:
On Friday, March 27, 2015 at 5:14:28 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
A lot of homes have high voltage when they are built, but the wires
corrode and they have calcium deposits inside them, sand the connections
are constricted, and after 16 years the voltage goes down to normal.

Yes. You know how a digital multimeter gives you all sorts of phantom voltage readings?

This is why.

When electrons run down the wire and bump into calcium deposits, some of them bounce out of the wire and spill around. There's never enough to be a hazard, but they certainly confuse sensitive equipment.

That's why I reach for the old Simpson 260D when my digital is giving a strange result.

(everything in the post I quoted and my post is BS, except I do still use my old Simpson)

Huh?
The reason digital meter is more sensitive is 'cause it's input
impedance is very high vs. analog ones. Like 25k Ohm vs. in the multi
Meg Ohm range. My old series 5 Simpson 260 is still often used as well
as Fluke.
If you measure a circuit with a load on it, the high impedence
digital meters will read accurately - with no "phantom effect"