Stray voltage ???

[rdnelson]

The reason I ask that you measure between ground and neutral is there should only be one location where the two are bonded. That is at the first means of disconnect. If they are bonded elsewhere in the home, you may be getting stray voltage comeing from other devices in the home over the ground wire. When you place a lead in the tank and one in the ground on the receptacle you are completing a new path with a different potential. That would show up on the meter as voltage.

 

[grouper therapy]

I've seen that one more than once. Head scratcher for x10 controls at times.

 

[rdnelson]

grouper therapy;804304 wrote: I've seen that one more than once. Head scratcher for x10 controls at times.

Exactly. Couple other things to investigate John. How old is the house? Does it have a complete ground system throughout? If electric, check the cords on the range and dryer. Are they three prong or 4 prong? Back in the day, you were allowed to use the ground as a neutral for those two items (it was enacted in WWII in an effort to save copper). Latest codes say they must be 4 wire ( 2 hots, a neutral and a ground). If the home is old enough that could be the problem. Even if they installed a new dryer if the receptacle was only 3 wire it is almost certain that the neutral in the dryer is tied to the ground in the cord.

 

[johniii]

Interesting. That's the next step I guess.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rjrgroup]

Electric eels???

I also showed voltage at one point with everything disconnected except my lights above the water. Once the lights were unplugged, voltage disappeared. The lights had no contact with anything conductive other than the plastic and glass which are non-conductive(mostly). I contribute it to an anomaly of alignment of planets and politicians...

 

[rdnelson]

rjrgroup;804351 wrote: Electric eels???

I also showed voltage at one point with everything disconnected except my lights above the water. Once the lights were unplugged, voltage disappeared. The lights had no contact with anything conductive other than the plastic and glass which are non-conductive(mostly). I contribute it to an anomaly of alignment of planets and politicians...

LOL Tell you what, tomorrow I am going to unplug everything and use a quality meter (not a fluke mind you but a true RMS meter) and I will tell you what I read from the water to the ground. Bet it is somewhere around 25 to 35 volts. But, all fish and corals are doing fine and I never get shocked.