John Abraham

i dont know for sure, but i hope he is!

I presume that you are testing the receptecle. If so and you are probing one hot lead and one of the 2 neutral leads the receptecle is wired incorrectly. Present day 4 slot receptacle have 2 nueetrals and 2 hots. 110v should read over both hots to groun, and 240v between the 2 hots.

Hey Steve its actually a 3 wire plug, the older style and the receptacle is wired properly, i tested it at the panel and saw that there was the same problem. There are 2 panels one is full the second has only two things plugged into it (one being the receptacle) and i still only get 240 of a single lead right out of the breaker.. any ideas? the other breaker on the same panel is doing the same thing

ANOTHER ANSWER

My suggestion would be that you test each slot with a different ground (not the ground or neutral slot, but perhaps a grounded electrical box or nearby cold copper pipe). If you read 120V on your neutral/ground slot, it's connected to one of the 120V legs (the one you read 0V on before) and needs to be rewired. For safety, I'll reiterate - the reason you read 0V across the "hot2" and "neutral" slots is that they are in phase and at the same potential, NOT because they are dead.

If you read 240V across ground and any one slot, you've got a bigger problem than a dryer receptacle. I highly doubt this is the case.

In all cases, if you aren't absolutely sure of yourself, get a professional involved.

Matt Kramer - Madison WI mfkramer@wisc.edu