Oddly, if there's no load, there's no problem. But the moment there's a load, there's a BIG problem -- it's basically the same as losing the neutral on the feed from the power company, except that it affects only two circuits, instead of all of them.
There are actually 3 grades of receptacles for commercial/industrial work:
5242 (lowest), 5252(medium) & 5262(highest).After that you get into the really high cotton with 8300 which is hospital grade.
H/G devices are very easy to spot. They have a green dot on the face.
Lew
Quick example, suppose a shared neutral as you describe has say a cell phone charger that draws 20 watts on one circuit, and a 1500 watt heater on the other. Turn them both on and cut the neutral, now all of a sudden you are dropping almost the entire 240 volts through the cell phone charger since the resistance of the heater is so much less in comparison.
You can play with the E=IR etc. to calculate the actual voltage drop on each load, but the effect will be that the lower-wattage appliance will be exposed to a way-too-high voltage.
Now you have me curious. But I do not have any electrician friends and do not want to bother a supply house with a "Can I see all three receptacles?" What differs among the three grades? The back wire and clamp was what I wanted along with heavier duty. HD carried them sometimes. I did have to hit a few stores after I emptied out the first store.
I have been away from the industry to intelligently answer your question.
As far as I can remember, it has to do with the internal construction of the device, the number of insertion/withdrawal cycles, etc, etc.
Lew
No. It says "grounded conductor". That's the neutral. The ground conductor is, in Code parlance, the ground-ING conductor.
I sure wish they'd use the terms "neutral" and "ground" like everyone else does, but they don't, and that's the way it is.
OK. Thanks for the info.
On Sat, 6 Jan 2007 17:39:18 -0700, Lew Hodgett wrote (in article ):
It also includes more contact surfaces for the sockets (edge and sides of the plug prongs) and a much more robust metal frame for the mounts and center screw that holds on the cover plate. The plastic is also more forgiving against chipping and cracking.
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