electrical question: can anyone explain this?

[jlatenight]

My wife SWEARS that her hair dryer gets hotter when she uses it at other people's houses. I seem to think that our George Forman grill doesn't get as hot as I've seen in others' houses. Is this a perception thing, or is there something with the power in our house that would cause appliaces with heating elements to not get as hot as other places? Is it something with the ol' W = V x A equasion? Could there not be enough Amps to create enough Wattage to properly power these types of devices that require a lot of Wattage?? Help!! Thanks so much to all who respond!!

[hallerb]

possible.

Have you checked your line voltage?

Long runs, undersized wiring, overloaded transformers, a wealth of things can contribuite to this.

check line voltage at different times of day, middle of the nite may see higher voltage.

if you have heard of brownouts? thats basically a lower line voltage

[Toller]

Since P=V(2)/R, it doesn't take much voltage drop to affect power.

[hallerb]

Oner advantage iot leads to longer light bulb life, although dramatically less briteness:(

[dnoyeB]

Highly doubtful. Perhaps you don't have a humidifier in your home? Or moreover, the air conditions are different between the homes creating a perception of performance.

My GF grill has a light and a dial on it. Thus its temperature is monitored/adjustable to some degree. So its not 100% pegged to line voltage.

[maradcliff]

Defective Electricity. Definately defective. Complain to your electric company and tell them you are not going to pay your electric bill until they correct it. It's probably recycled power you are getting. It's already been used once and you are just getting the left over, used power.

However, before you complain too loudly, be sure your wiring is not worn out. It could be old wiring where the copper has simply run out of electrons. You could even have some clogs in the wires. Get a can of "Wireno" (wire drano), and thoroughly flush out your wires.

And the last possibility are the houses where they wanted to save money, so they used the HOT water pipes for the HOT LINE VOLTAGE, used the COLD water pipes for the NEUTRAL, and used the GAS pipes for the GROUND. You could have a bad dielectric union, so all the power is leaking into the hot water heater and is heating water instead of going to the outlets. If your water is too hot, this is an indicator of this condition. Also note if the gas coming out of the burners in your stove is hot before it is ignited, you have an electrical leak to ground.

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[Ralph Mowery]

It is possiable. For less than $ 20 you can find out. Get a digital meter (you may hear it referred to as a VOM or voltmeter). Plug the dryer in where it is normally used if it is a duplex socket. Then measuer the voltage at the socket. It should be around 110 to 125 volts. Then turn on the dryer and remeasuer the voltage. If it only drops a volt or two then the wireing is probalby ok. If it drops 10 volts or more, it is time to call an electrician to see where the voltage is going.

Then go to the house where the dryer is working 'beter' and do the same check. If the voltage is moer than about 5 volts diffearant then your wife is probably right. Be sure to do this check around the same time as the power company voltage can vary during the day or season.

The voltage at the socket is what maters. The same device will use more current with a higher voltage and produce more heat. As was mentioned, if the voltage is low the dryer will produce less heat and the light bulbs will last longer.

[spudnuty]

You should check your line voltage with a good DMM with the hair dryer plugged in to that same outlet (assuming it's not separated or switched) turning the dryer on and off. I do electrical repairs for people and carry a hair dryer for circuit load testing and finding breakers. I have seen many wire gauge problems the one that comes quickly to mind is the apartment building that was owned by a friend of mine. Looking into this exact kind of problem I found that the building had been rewired with #16 or smaller. I don't even know anyone who will sell you that as a electrical contractor. I don't know how it got past the inspectors in the first place or how it got past them the 2nd time when my friend sold the building. It could also be bad junctions. Richard

[hallerb]

On a SERIOUS NOTE he could have alunimum wiring:(

It was used years ago to cut costs. trouble is its higher resistance and can become a fire hazard. its trouble can lead to low voltage and this situation should be investigated.

[Joseph Meehan]

It certainly is possible.

It is easy to check. Any good volt meter will tell you what voltage you have. I suggest measuring at the same outlet that the hair dryer and or grill are plugged into. Measure with out anything else on and with the dryer or grill on. You should be seeing about 120V with the devices off and something a little less with it on. I am going to let someone else suggest how much of a drop is acceptable for that kind of load.

If it is below 120V without a load, then you may have a wiring problem in your home or a supply problem. If it is within your home it could be dangerous. Maybe a floating neutral. It would be wise to have it checked.

If the voltage drop is related to the use of the equipment and is greater that it should be, then it is almost certainly in your home and it is dangerous, including possible bad connections, aluminum wiring issues.

[Jeff Wisnia]

ROTFLMAO!!!

Next time, consider also including my favorite, the "loose disconnection".

That's what we used to tell our non-tech savvy customers when the real cause of the problem we fixed would have taken too long to explain and they wouldn't have understood a word of it anyway.

Jeff

[Jeff Wisnia]

And, heed Joseph's words regarding using a "good" voltmeter. I still prefer to trust my 40 year old Simpson 260 analog VOM when I want correct RMS ac voltage measurements.

The $9.95 digital VOMs (Sometimes even as cheep as $4.95 at Harbor Freight.) will give you a reading, but the indicated voltage can be thrown off a fair amount if there is a bit of spikey noise on the ac line you're measuring. If you're hunting for a few volts of line voltage difference between your home and another location, try and make sure the meter is not going to fool you.

Like with so many other things, you sometimes get what you pay for, but almost never do you get more than you pay for.

Jeff

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, To be sure, measuring voltage with dryer plugged in and running vs. without to see if there is too much vltage drop. Or use an Amprobe to see current draw. Good thing your friend's apartment did not start electrical fire!

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Simpson 260 is a work horse. I still prefer this over fancy DMM(Fluke) or o'scope some times. DMM some times cause trouble being too sensitive. I still have an old VTVM with diode probe for higher frequency measurement.

[maradcliff]

I like that one. Thats funny !!!!! I will have t remember that.

[unknown]

I know someone who had one of those loose disconnections around the electric meter, and was accused of cheating (something about inductance affecting the meter).

[Mark Lloyd]

I decided to try that on my receptacles. Most have drops less than 5V (lowest near the breakers). However, I got higher drops at one (this is the same circuit that had problems with my holiday lights. A lot of those lights were flashing, and that showed at the fixed lights too). This receptacle is at the end of a line where wires pass through 3 other receptacles which use those connections where you stick a wire in a hole in the receptacle (no screws). Maybe I need to rewire those (using pigtails on the screws?).

[maradcliff]

Whether this affects the hair dryer and all of that is hard to say, but your xmas light issue sounds like a definate problem. Those backstab outlets are bad news. Yes, rewire them using the screws.

[Bud--]

The wire is not the problem. Because of the higher resistance of aluminum larger wire is used. Connections to aluminum wire are what fail.

bud--

[buffalobill]

maybe neighbor's room is warmer and her hairdryer adds to that higher starting temperature. i looked at those grills a couple years ago and found george foreman makes a variety of similar grills, check the model numbers and wattages on the device plate; also check starting temperature of the product from the neighbor's warmer freezer.