Household voltage question?

Question

At my wall outlet I have 120 volts between neutral and hot and I have 120 volts between hot and ground and I have nothing between neutral and ground but when I plug in any two pronged appliance into the circuit suddenly I have 50 volts between neutral and ground and 50 volts between hot and ground and the same 120 between hot and neutral. I also have voltage between component chassis and ground. None of this occurs when all appliances have a 3 pin plug. What's going on here?

Answer 1

Check to see if your ground rod or ground wire out side of your house, where the power enters the house has a good connection.

You may find the ground wire/cable loose or not connected to a good ground source.

Answer 2

Check to see if this receptacle is part of a multi-wire branch circuit (2 hot conductors sharing a neutral).If there is a bad ground or loose neutral connection that may have something to do with it; you may also have a bad receptacle.

The neutral will carry any unbalanced load when it is used with two hot conductors (this is acceptable by NEC Standards, but in the 2008 Code, you must use a listed handle tie between the breakers, or a double-pole breaker).

If it is part of a "network", be sure that the breakers are "stacked" right below and above each other in the panel, so they are on opposite legs.

Make sure all of your connections are tight; do the same with your grounds. If you can't figure it out, call a qualified, licensed electrician.

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If your receptacles are "back-stabbed", try using the s***w-post terminals, instead; and be sure that you only have #14 AWG conductors in the back-stab slots. This application, while "Code compliant" is not a good installation practice, as it leads to a lot of time spent troubleshooting circuits. Be advised, that the receptacle itself is not allowed to be the sole connection between conductors, and that the neutral conductor must be installed using a pig-tail when it is part of a multi-wire branch circuit.

Answer 3

No way should you read any voltage between the chassis and ground at any time with any thing.

That is true even if you have a hot ground because there should be no path for it to complete the circuit.

You must have a short.

Ohm between the two prongs on the two prong items and the chassis. That should read open.

Answer 4

You have a loose connection somewhere. Maybe in another outlet somewhere or a junction or your main panel.