Ground voltage!!

Mijostyn, I’ve always wondered about the origin of the phrase “red herring”, but it does appeal to me. The only time I ever drank so much that I barfed was after also eating canned herring. That was in college, and I haven’t eaten canned herring since that incident. Nor have I ever gotten as intoxicated.

If you do really read 80V between neutral and ground, this indicates a problem, suggesting that neutral and ground are not tied together as they should be. Most everyone has said that in one way or the other. Mea culpa for misidentifying the long slot in a 3 prong receptacle, but I did indicate my own uncertainty and did suggest to engage an electrician. I’m betting this is all a red herring anyway.

If that is true, then you have a discontinuity somewhere between neutral and earth ground.  Could be anywhere all the way back to the circuit breaker box for your apartment building.  Or could be local.  You might call it to the attention of your landlord.  (Check other outlets for the same issue.)  Ask a real electrician if it's safe for now.

kota, if you are selling line conditioners here, I don't think Audiogon will like it.  Nor is a line conditioner at all relevant to the question.

My guess is you've measured the wrong thing.  A modern wall outlet has 3 receptacles.  The two slotted ones are where the line AC voltage appears, across hot and neutral.  (The bigger slot is "hot", I think.) The third, semicircular receptacle is earth ground.  Please clarify where you placed the probes of your meter in order to see 80V (you'll never ever see 80 amperes of current at a receptacle, because that would have blown any circuit breaker ever in a domestic dwelling, not to mention most meters).  There should be no voltage between earth and neutral, but certain defects in wiring can in fact produce voltages in between 0 and 120V across those two poles.