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this might be a stupid question ... but i'm just concerned about my house

ok a little bit of story ... I turned OFF the breaker/electricity to repair some lamp switch and outlet... but when i tested continuity on my house AC outlet... it beeps and shown 10.2 Ohm or something... isn't it not supposed to do that..?

I just know about this today since i rarely fix wall AC outlet currently, the electricity is ON ... and the breaker is not tripping...

my country electricity type according to Wikipedia Indonesia
A, C, F, G SNI 04-3892 230 V 380 V 50 Hz

  • Get an electrician to look at it if you are worried. –  Aug 29 '21 at 10:45
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    If there are appliances on other outlets you will.measure their resistance.turn off all switches and unplug any appliances with no switches. – Russell McMahon Aug 29 '21 at 10:46
  • Quite a few circuits have more than just one outlet. They usually have more than one outlet and can also have lights and switches on them. If all switches are off, and all outlets have nothing plugged into them, then you should get no connectivity between hot and neutral. Any switch that is on or any outlet on that circuit with something plugged in, can give an ohm reading. – crip659 Aug 29 '21 at 14:00
  • We don't know what you measured. But if you just measured continuity between Live and Neutral on the disconnected circuit, that is probably the resistance of all the other lamps on that circuit. Incandescent lamps have a low resistance when cold, which increases a lot when they are on and heat up. Switch OFF all the other lamps and try again. – user_1818839 Aug 29 '21 at 14:39
  • Yes it could be a lamp if the switch was left on more likely an electronic device with a power supply, or doorbell transformer. – Ed Beal Aug 29 '21 at 15:51
  • okay news update... i tried all the thing which mentioned above in the morning ... like unplugging everything and switch off every light ... and the result still the same ... beeping and showing 10 ohm on average... so got called a technician to our house... and they say its the insulation for the cable or something?... they use this thing called Megger.. and they said it's fine as long there's no trip to the breaker ... what do you guys think? – Elanordir Aug 30 '21 at 04:08
  • @Elanordir Please [merge](http://diy.stackexchange.com/help/merging-accounts) your accounts so you have access to edit, comment, and accept answers on your own question. Posting multiple responses as answers can result in an automated lock that can prevent others from assisting you. – BMitch Aug 30 '21 at 22:39

2 Answers2

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With the breaker turned off there should be no real voltage but possibly a phantom voltage measuring hot to neutral, For a continuity measurement or resistance measurement measuring 10 ohms is not unusual.

How could I measure resistance on a deenergized circuit? Any devices plugged in like wall warts chargers for phones, computers will provide a path that you can measure, if a light switch was left on on the same circuit the reading could be very close to zero depending on the type of lamp.

Reading 10 ohms with the breaker turned off could be something as simple as a doorbell transformer on the circuit so there are many things that could cause this and I would not be concerned at all.

Ed Beal
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It is your other loads.

Your air conditioner connects between hot and neutral. But it is not the only appliance which does that!

If you have disconnected the main circuit breaker, and also unplugged the air conditioner, then what remains is all the other appliances in the house which are switched on, drawing "vampire loads" or have automatically cycled on (e.g. water heater/boiler).

You are measuring the resistance across them (well, when the load doesn't have power). Many loads, like incandescent bulbs, have low resistance when un-lit, but much higher resistance when lit.

Fun with math

You could figure out the resistance of each load individually by measuring it separately... but summing up resistances is really weird. You are much better off thinking in terms of conductance. Conductance is the inverse of resistance, so take 1 divided by it. Your 10.2 ohms is 0.098 Siemens. Siemens is the unit. Really. Symbol is "S".

Probably easier to work in milli-Siemens, of which that would be 98 mS.

All of the conductances of your individual appliances will add up to 98 mS.

Measure the resistance of them individually one at a time, take 1/ohms to get Siemens, multiply by 1000 to get milli-Siemens, and add them up!

Say your water heater is 50 ohms or 20 mS, and your cell phone charger is 1000 ohms or 1 milli-Siemens, that accounts for 21 mS so far.

Again, the conductance of a dead load is not the same as when it is under power. Unless it's a heating element (toaster, hair dryer, etc.)

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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