Got stuck for hours on a weird voltage drop in an old house in Tacoma

Was adding a new circuit in a 1950s house and kept reading 90 volts at the outlet. Checked all my connections, the breaker, even the panel feed. Finally found a junction box hidden behind a kitchen cabinet where someone had wrapped a neutral with electrical tape instead of a wire nut. Took me almost 4 hours to track it down. Anyone else run into weird hidden splices that killed your day?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinn_kim4522d ago

Read a story about a similar issue in an old Seattle craftsman. The electrician found a hot wire spliced with a twist of bare copper and hidden inside a wall with newspaper insulation. Those old hidden junctions are a real headache to find.

wyatt_perez798d ago

Ever try a thermal camera to spot those hot hidden splices? Worked for me when I was chasing a ghost circuit in my own old house.

blair50621d ago

But sometimes those old fixes last longer than new stuff.