Hey all: I'v got a detached garage/shop that has a separate 100 amp sub panel. I'm wiring from the sub panel to the individual outlets in the shop. I wanted to run 3 separate 20 amp circuits of 12AWG THHN stranded wire in a single piece of exposed 1/2" EMT (conduit), and figured I'd have to run 3 sets of 3 wires each that would likely put me over the 40% fill limit. I called the city inspector and he said that don't have to run 9 wires down the conduit, I can instead run 3 common's, two neutral's (1 for each phase, 1 of which will be shared by 2 circuits), and use the conduit as the ground. That would be 5 wires total run in the tube. From the information I've gotten to this point, this is wrong. I'm skeptical of 2 breakers sharing 1 neutral, and of the EMT providing the only equipment ground. However I'm just a 1 man shop so I'm only running 1 tool on 1 circuit at a time. Does anyone have a copy of the 2002 NEC that would clarify this? I have the Illustrated guide the NEC in front of me, but it assumes that you also have the actual NEC book to reference, so it's sort of like reading every other paragraph in a novel. Thank you for any advice: Dean
- posted
20 years ago