I was told that you can't have more than 2 circuits share one comon and they should be on opposite phases in the panel. Is this the case and what's the danger if more (say 3 in my case) share one common?
Tim
I was told that you can't have more than 2 circuits share one comon and they should be on opposite phases in the panel. Is this the case and what's the danger if more (say 3 in my case) share one common?
Tim
For a normal DIY'er, who doesn't have a good solid grasp of what's going on, it's just not worth doing, anyway. You have to run wire to every outlet anyway, why not just run a separate 12/2 to circut? What's it going to cost you, an extra $30?
I understand that the neutral could be current carrying because of the sister circuit, but is that really a problem? I have never touched a live neutral, but I would expect that since it is attached to the ground, the potential for a problem is really tiny. No?
No. if you ground a live nuetral through yourself, you just became a moderately high-resistance parallel circut. Assuming that the connection to ground is good, you'll carry less current than the wire, but still more than you want to. And if the connection to ground is iffy, you'll take MOST of the current.
I cannot think of a good reason to do this. It will cause hassle.
Many decades ago, wire was expensive and labor cheap and they used to do it this way. I have worked on a couple of homes where this kind of wiring is still in use. It's a pain. When there is a problem, it affects more than one circuit. When something gets changed, it makes it many times harder.
Wire is cheap. It will take less time to do it right. Don't take this shortcut. It will not save you anything.
Good luck.
Peter
Isn't a roll of 12-3 cheaper than 2 rolls of 12-2?
Have a nice week...
Trent
Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
Most of the time? Probably. But not necessarily so. 12-2 is often a "deal of the week", commodity item. It doesn't matter who makes it, as long as it's manufactured to meet spec and has the embossing on the sheath that says so. "Hell, order me up ten pallets of it, put it on sale for about $15 a roll and let's pack that parking lot on Saturday morning". Ya know?
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