I finally found the phantom voltage drop in a 1978 split-level in Akron

Spent six hours chasing a 3-volt drop on a kitchen circuit that kept tripping a new GFCI. Turns out the original installer backstabbed a receptacle in the basement and the connection had corroded to almost nothing. Who else has wasted half a day on a single bad backstab?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_rose1mo ago

Chasing phantom voltage is the worst. I always pigtail now, never backstab.

andrew_baker91mo ago

Yeah phantom voltage is a real pain. My buddy spent a whole day on a call for a flickering light, turned out to be a backstabbed outlet on the same circuit. He doesn't backstab anything now.

paulnguyen1mo ago

Wasn't there a code change a while back that made backstabbing less okay?

mason_murray86d ago

yeah I get why people do it but honestly I've never had an issue with backstabbing if you strip the wire right and get a solid bite it holds fine. Pigtailing adds another joint that can fail too if you ask me.