Anytime there is a problem with your electrical wiring, you should be concerned and have a professional check it out. Especially the situation you stated on #1.

#2 electrical feedback most likely - aka EMI. Not as much of a concern that I know of however I am NOT an electrician so this is an opinion.

If you have a 90 year old house, chances are you have knob and tube wiring, which does not have grounding. Get an electrician out there and have them take a look at your entire wiring job and determine the safety of it and have them explain to you the differences between it and today's modern Romex wiring. A lot of folks don't realize how much is on their circuts on K&T and overload them etc. Could be part of the interference on #2, however again I am not an electrician therefor the previous is just an opinion.

#1 sounds as though your furnace is somehow wired in series with the outlet. Yeah, that's weird. Dangerous? Well, there are ways for this to happen which wouldn't be inherently dangerous, but these would have to be deliberate - and I can't imagine someone deliberately doing something like that. It's possible that the furnace and the outlet were wired as a shared-neutral circuit and the neutral has opened up somewhere. That would definitely be a dangerous situation.

#2 is basically as s_anthony said, sorta. Well, okay, so it's not, but... it's equally "magical" and non-concerning.

Radio waves are weird things and radio circuits make no sense to most people - including me (and I have quite a bit of electronics background). At radio frequencies, electronic signals start managing to find inductors and capacitors in completely "accidental" places.

More than likely, the circuitry in your radio is receiving some of its radio signal via the power cord (if it's a clock radio, or does not have an obvious antenna, chances are it receives ALL of its signal this way). Since the wires of the cord are part of the antenna, it thus follows that anything else in the same circuit becomes part of the antenna.

So a radio signal comes into your house, hits the toaster, gets absorbed and sent along the toaster's power cord, through the outlet, to your radio's power cord, where the radio circuitry receives it.

I wonder if that toaster will pick up HD? OK that was bad but I just had to LOL. Or if the reception in the car is bad...... oh ok nevermind that isn't the best idea either.ô¿ô

To be on the safe side, verify the voltages at those receptacles. I have devices that permit that with the appliances plugged in and operating. The problem could be a loose neutral, but the described symptoms do not exactly match the classic case.

Thanks for the great info. DH *says* he's going to follow up on the furnace, but I may have to nudge him. We've been here 8 years with no problem, so it's easy to brush off the risk, but I still think it's worth looking at.

Countryboy, the reception in our car (2000 Focus wagon) is so good that sometimes the radio keeps playing after the car is turned off and the key removed. How's that for weird??

I'm not sure if that's reception being good, how long does the radio keep playing? Do the lights on the radio stay on? Some radios will run without a key.

If the radio runs for a bit then stops, there's a capacitor somewhere in the power supply to the radio (an energy storage/filtering device) that stays powered after the supply shuts off, til it's drained. The capacitor helps keep noise from the ignition, alternator etc coming through into the radio and its amplifier.

Oh, I know that's not an issue of reception. Just making a joke in response to countryboy's comment. Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions because it hasn't happened in a while, so I don't remember. I just thought it was so weird.

Wow pit pat that is amazing.. just imagine if you used an inverter and put the toaster in there. It might be a perpetual motion machine and the whole car keep running after the key is off and not burn any gas. I think you should contact NASA.

I have to admit that toaster thing is rather odd. Electricity and its fields can do amazing things.

I wonder if that toaster will pick up HD?

I doubt it. Probably have to upgrade
to at least a microwave to get HD.

Pooh Bear

Newer car radios will keep playing with the engine off and key removed UNTIL you open a door. Mine will run for 10 minutes or until I open any door.