voltage drop problem

naehring2000

I'm getting a few things wrapped up in my condo for closing, and one of the things I wanted to tackle was the stove resetting almost every time I turn the vent hood on.

Hopefully some electricians can provide some input....

things I found while troubleshooting.

I shut off the power 20A circuit controls fridge stove( gas) and the hood, I pulled down the vent hood and realized it was #14 wire to the vent hood. I pulled the outlet out behind the stove and saw that #12 fed the outlet and the 14 branched off to the vent hood, I also noted that the #14 wire was loose in the wall so this must have been an afterthought installation on the builders part. I connected a new piece of 12-2 to the 14-2 and yanked it through the wall hoping that was the problem... It was not.

I wired everything back up plugged the stove in and inserted my multimeter into the other outlet to check for a voltage drop, and there was quite a drop. There was no consistent drop sometimes it was 1 or 2 volts other times it was 10, 20 and even 30 volt drop! my base reading was 120.1VAC and recorded as low as 90.4VAC

Any thoughts? I'm thinking it may be the motor on the vent hood but Don't know how I would go by checking this.

The house already had a home inspection and there was no mention of this happening to them but I can't in good conscience leave it like that.

joed

Loose connection somewhere on the circuit. Could be in any junction box between the problem and the panel. Could even be in the panel.

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naehring2000

no i've eliminated the panel, I used to have an FPE panel and ha the same problem, my electrician said lets wait and see if the new panel fixes the problem, it didnt and here I am. I have 1 other junction for the outlet behind the fridge I will check out it doesnt seem like a lose connection as the stove never resets unless i turn the vent hood on.

AllanJ

Check the neutrals also, including where they are screwed onto the bus bar in the panel. Connections can oxidize and/or work loose; unscrewing a quarter turn and then retightening (not with tremendous force) usually clears the oxidation as well as re-establish any loose connection.

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J. V.

The range hood (#14) and the stove (#12) cannot share the circuit unless you change the breaker to 15 amp.

I would put the range hood on another circuit and depending on the stove requirements (amps) I would get the stove either on its own circuit or another 20 amp circuit.
Check the stoves current requirement on the nameplate.

naehring2000

#14 wire is gone, i replaced it with #12