On my 120 breaker I have a , about a 70 volt feed back from natural to ground at one of my receptials, and about 50 or so at some othes on the same circuit, why does the breaker not kick? Thanks, richard

Circuit breakers operate on amperage, not voltage.

Power comes in on the black hot. It goes through the device which is a resistor. There is a drop in voltage any time power goes through resistor. How much of a drop depends how much resistance there is in the device. Power returns to its source on the neutral.

The neutrals come together at the neutral buss in the breaker panel. The ground wires which is a safety device and not part of the circuit also connect to the neutral buss. Therefore, the voltage on the neutral and the ground should always be the same. When you measure voltage with a meter you are actually measuring the difference in voltage between the two conductors.

If there is a difference in voltage between the neutral and the ground there must faulty connection in the neutral between the point of measurement and the circuit panel. If this occurs on multiple circuits check the connection of the buss bar to the incoming neutral.

Great info above, Start at Meter Can. Measure between Hots and ground, hots and neutral, and between ground and neutral(should be zero between ground and neutral), follow downstream from there. Just saw it is a bit of an old post, info is still good today?