I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

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For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...o-3089865-.htm

On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120
but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage.
This does not occur in other outlets.

You may have a bad connection at the outlet. Is it warm to the touch,
even the plastic parts? When being used for cooking.

Maybe one or both screws is loose. Less likely but possible, the wire
is cracked.

Possibly the other outlets youve checked are not on same breaker, in
which case the bad connection could be AT the breaker.

I suppose it could be internal to the receptacle, the metal tab broke
inside. I've never heard of this except for this one time wheh they
weren't broken, just tired**, but if the recept. is warm, or hot, the
problem is the receptacle or within an inch of it.

**I one time had a room heater plugged into a one-plex receptacle in a
building built in 1930. It was about 1980. I woke up to see one inch
flames coming from the hard rubber plug of the heater. I don't know how
long it was burning. Pulling out the plug made the flames go out. The
receptacle was old, it didn't squeeze the prongs of the heater like it
once did, it provided electrical resistance and got hot, accordign to
Power = amps x volts where the volts are the voltage drop at that spot.
And the amps are what the heater drew, even though it was drawing a
little bit less because of the voltage drop.

On 1/23/2021 6:41 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.


Or, a long run of #14 wire. I replaced a #14 run with #12, and the
output of my electric heater I used there felt like it doubled in heat.

On Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 8:01:05 PM UTC-5, jay wrote:
I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...o-3089865-.htm

On line side or probably load side (in this case), the the three passive linear circuit elements of power processing that remove a properly calculated voltage drop are an inductor, capacitor or a resistor.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 20:23:29 -0800, Bob F wrote:

On 1/23/2021 6:41 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.


Or, a long run of #14 wire. I replaced a #14 run with #12, and the
output of my electric heater I used there felt like it doubled in heat.

I suppose but that is about 300' of #14 to drop 15 v at 8.33a

On Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 9:41:36 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.
You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

If there are other receptacles upstream of this one, localizing the bad connection
could be as simple as measuring the voltage at the other ones while the
cooktop is running. If the voltage suddenly increases, the bad connection
is somewhere after that. And it should be fixed, if that's due to one bad
connection that's enough heat to start a fire. Could also be a bad
receptacle at the cooktop too.

On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 07:18:53 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 9:41:36 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.
You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

If there are other receptacles upstream of this one, localizing the bad connection
could be as simple as measuring the voltage at the other ones while the
cooktop is running. If the voltage suddenly increases, the bad connection
is somewhere after that. And it should be fixed, if that's due to one bad
connection that's enough heat to start a fire. Could also be a bad
receptacle at the cooktop too.

That is a good place to use your IR gun.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 21:41:04 -0500, posted for all of us to
digest...


On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

Wouldn't a thermal camera be wonderful to have?

--
Tekkie

On Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:56:17 -0500, Tekkie©
wrote:


On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 21:41:04 -0500, posted for all of us to
digest...


On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

Wouldn't a thermal camera be wonderful to have?

Maybe that Covid fever thermometer gun you bought? ;-)

On 1/23/2021 9:41 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:00:59 +0000, jay
wrote:

I have an outlet with excessive voltage drop when I plug in an induction cooktop (1000 watt). The outlet measures 120 but the voltage drops to 105 when the cooktop is plugged in. The cooktop stops working because of the low voltage. This does not occur in other outlets.

You have a bad connection somewhere between there and the panel. I
would start with the receptacle right there and then try to trace it
back one at a time until you find the bad one. If they are back
stabbed, it is far from unusual. You may see signs of overheating. You
are creating about 125 watts worth of heat in that bad connection.

One place you might want to check is the push-in type outlets. I have a
15 amp circuit in the livingroom. At Christmas I used to have a tree
with several hundred C7 incandescent lights. Some were 7 watts and
others were 4 or 5. I was getting a huge voltage drop. The tree lights
were about 5 outlets from the line to the breaker. All used push-in
connectors on the outlets. I found the outlets before the Christmas
tree were warm to the touch. After using wire nuts and the screws
connections on the outlets, the voltage drop verturally dissappeared.
All a mute point now as the C7 lamps have all been replaced by LED C7s.