I have a kitchen split receptacle. The top outlet of the receptacle reads 120V AC as expected, with the hot wire being red and feeding from the breaker.
The bottom outlet reads 17.44V AC, with the hot wire being black and feeding from the breaker. This bottom outlet is then itself feeding another unsplit receptacle outside the kitchen, which also reads 17.44V AC.
I have no known load attached to the bottom outlet or unsplit receptacle when I make these measurements.
I have already replaced the split receptacle itself, so I am skeptical it is a bad receptacle (without another issue causing them to go bad).
Any ideas as to what could be causing this?
Best Answer
The breaker's shot
Given that your panel is a Westinghouse Nova-Line, and that the other three poles of the culprit breaker (a quadruplex/double-stuff unit) work, your problem is that a defect inside the culprit breaker pole is preventing it from passing power through to the load. I would try turning it off and back on a couple of times to see if that clears any issues with the contacts; barring that, it's time to replace the breaker with a brand-new Eaton breaker of the same configuration.