changing 240v trip on circuit breaker to 120v

[contrarian76]

I have a circuit that is now 240v and I wish to change it to 120 volts. The switch that trips the fuse at the circuit box for that curcuit consists of 2 switches connected together with a clip. If I were to remove the clip and put one switch in the off position permanently and the other one in the on position would this be a safe and sound way to get 120v from this circuit? Would it matter which one I used for the on circuit? Is this the right way to do this? Sorry if this sounds ludicrous, I don't know much about electricity in a home.

[RBM]

Assuming it's a two wire cable with a black and a white wire on the double pole breaker, you would remove the white wire from the breaker and install it on the neutral buss. Next, remove the bridge connecting the breakers together. Now you have a 120 volt circuit

[Big_Jake]

Your lack of knowledge is a scary thing. We could give you lots of great advice, but your probably ought to have someone with more experience walk you through the process, in person. 240v is no joke, you could be taking your life into your hands.

JK

[Toller]

What is the 240v circuit for? Why do you want to change it to 120v? What is the cable? Are there outlets involved?

The advice you were given might work, or your method might work; or it might be a really stupid thing to do. You didn't give enough information.

[Chris Lewis]

According to [e-mail] :

You're confusing switch and breaker, and it's giving me a headache ;-)

It'd be best explaining better what the circuit is currently doing, why you want to switch it, and other details. Like, does the cable the tie-barred breaker have 3 or 4 wires in it? What is the amperage of the breaker?

[From a theoretical/code perspective, some of the questions are irrelevant, but they may shed some light on the wisdom of doing this at all.]