"John Grabowski" wrote in message
...
It seems as though you have a shared neutral which you failed to connect
properly, thereby sending 220 volts through the appliances. This is the
down-side of using a 2 pole breaker with a shared neutral to power 120
volt
equipment.

Stop using your voltmeter. Your readings are normal and confusing you.
Your meter is picking up voltage that is passing through each appliance.
Check your neutral connection by beginning at the panel and finish where
it
terminates at each appliance.

If it was my house, I would run a separate line and get those 120 volt
circuits off of a 2 pole breaker.


John Grabowski
http://www.mrelectrician.tv


Hi John,

Thanks for advice.

Regards to the "2 pole" breaker... I'm just reading the extraordinarily
small print off
the breaker. It's inside a "Sylvania breaker box 390-205-09", but I can't
find any reference
to Sylvania breakers. To me, the breaker looks like the pictures of the
Zinsco type R38,
or maybe RC38 (but there's no bar between them).

This is a thin double 20A breaker.
Small type on the breaker: 2 pole, issue # LK-4137
120/240 VAC type R38 (or it could be A30, A38, R30, cause damn... it's small
print)
E16248 SA LR17830
It's 3/4" thick for the 2 switches, and 4-5/8" wide.


Is it possible to replace this 2-pole breaker with two single-pole 20A
breakers, as
another poster (gabriel, thks) suggested? Can I do this without rewiring?

My sister-in-law's place is a condo, but think "apartment" because it's
surrounded above
and on 2 sides by other units. She says nobody has done any electrical
work in her
apartment that could explain this recent failure. Routing new wires would
involve tearing
into walls, and major work which I'd really like to avoid, if possible (and
she can't afford).

I didn't change any wires in the walls or anything, and hooking up the
dishwasher is very
simple. It seems unlikely that the previously working circuits were
mis-wired, shooting
220 voltage though the original appliances without an immediate failure...

Therefore, something in the current wiring failed. From what you say, it
sounds like the
"neutral" is a common neutral for this 2-pole breaker, and I should be
looking at whether
that neutral is still connected between the breaker and each of the
appliance neutrals.

You said:
Check your neutral connection by beginning at the panel and finish where
it
terminates at each appliance.

Can you please forgive my ignorance, and suggest how? Should I turn off the
house power,
clip on a 20 foot wire to the breaker neutral, and do a continuity/resistor
test to the neutrals of
the disposal and dishwasher in the kitchen? Or is there something else you
had in mind?

Is it still possible it's just the breaker which has failed, or does that
sound unlikely from
what I've described?


Thanks again,
Kent