I have a history of shocking the bejeezus out of myself, so I tend to be very wary around electricity. (hit by 120 several times, once by 230 with pretty good amps through the lower arm...yeow!)

Anyways, is there a testing proceedure to determine if an outlet is putting out the proper current and voltage? I have a crappy old federal pacific breaker box in my house, and i don't completely trust those breakers.

You really should get that box changed out.

Volt meter....they are very easy to use.

Voltage is easy with a multimeter. Current is another issue.

One way to check to see and just get a rough guess is to hook up a modest size load (vacuum cleaner) and put your multimeter is another outlet on the same circuit. Look at your voltage drop on the meter when you kick the vacuum on. This will give you a good idea of how the circuit is behaving, the smaller the voltage drop the better. 105-110 isn't that bad, but if you get below 105 or even 100, you are loading up the circuit pretty heavily.

The equipment on the circuit will pull the current it needs to get its power. The lower the voltage the more current it pulls. More current = more heat = more wear and tear on your motors.

Hook yourself up to an ekg and ecg then lick your finger, then stick it in the outlet.


If you survive, read the output that raced across your heart.


(In seriousness, use a voltage meter)

How do you check voltage from hot to neutral at a wall plug without frying your voltmeter?

I've got a crapload of experience on 12V systems, but I'm a relative noob with 120V.

I ask this because my friggin clotheswasher has been malfunctioning lately, and GE has been out 3 times and replaced about everything in it, and it still is not working right.

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 3/14/2011 12:13p).]

Mouth, multimeters are set up to take that kind of measurement. Just set the meter to measuring AC volts and stick it in the holes!

You may have a really low voltage one your circuit that is causing your dryer to pull a lot of current.

how exactly is it behaving? Short cycles? Timers not working? Burning up motors/elements?

What agrams said, your multimeter will have a selections for DC or AC measurement (symbols:sine wave for AC, block steps for DC).
Most units will have very limited means to check current (amps), also requiring an "in-line" measurement.
Amp meters that simply are positioned around one leg of the wiring are common, but not found in too many homeowner tool kits.

Added-link to clamp-on amp meter (with voltmeter).
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482372000P?mv=rr#reviewsWrap

Trouble-shooting a dryer connection will be a little tricky, as you have no parallel outlets to determine voltage drops. You can check at the breaker(s), but that won't test the wiring going out to the outlet.

[This message has been edited by GSS (edited 3/14/2011 1:44p).]

It doesn't fill all the way to where the setting should fill it, then it tries to start the wash cycle while still spraying random spurts of water in. The rest of the cycle seems to work ok. They've replaced the drive motor assembly and shaft assembly TWICE now, and the control module once.

It's either got a bad sensor or feedback, or bad power, I think.

get the box changed out...now

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crappy old federal pacific breaker box

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These are great for welders or high load machinery because they catch fire before they will ever trip. Or in other words, replaced the panel asap.

When talking about "clean" power you are going to want to get an oscilloscope to look at the waveform, phase sync, and noise that is in your source...


If you're just wanting to check voltage, set any cheapo multi-meter to the lowest setting that reads 240vac and plug the leads into the wall.

To check voltage drop, you can pull the plug out just enough that you can connect the leads to the prongs on the plug while the drier is running.

you probably won't have an ammeter that will go high enough on most multi-meters (generally 10A max), and getting one that will take a large enough current is expensive. That isn't really a helpful measurement for you anyway... unless you're popping breakers.

OK, when you change out a breaker panel, how do you get the electric co to come out and shut the damn thing down on their end. No way in hell I'm touching that sucker while it is live on the main side.

call them and ask them to pull the meter.

because of this... chances are good that you're going to have to have a licensed individual oversee the work

[This message has been edited by TexasRebel (edited 3/14/2011 5:34p).]

quote:

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OK, when you change out a breaker panel, how do you get the electric co to come out and shut the damn thing down on their end. No way in hell I'm touching that sucker while it is live on the main side.

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You should have a master kill at the meter.... If not, your utility will turn it off for you...

and alluding to TexasRebel, they may not turn it on without an inspection...

[This message has been edited by Deats (edited 3/14/2011 6:05p).]

Another way to check those FedPac breakers is to find a decent digital voltmeter and put it on an AC scale that displays millivolts. You can then use one lead on the hot leg the breaker is connected to and the other lead on the screw the load wire is connected to. You are looking at the Vdrop in millivolts across the breaker and bus its connected to. It should be pretty low and fairly consistent for each breaker because you aren't measureing across much distance/resistance. Say 30 millivolts or so just as an example. If you find one of the breakers that measures 30 times or higher than the typical value you are measureing, its going bad or has a high resistance connection to the bus and attention should be given to that breaker. In my experience the bad FedPac breakers will be several thousand times the Vdrop of the good breakers when they go bad...of course the arcing, heat and smoke may be more of a giveaway than the Vdrop measurement.