Electrical wiring

Yes, you are correct. All of the bridges must be removed. If even one remains, it effectively feeds power to the other plug in that duplex, and since that is connected to all of the others that would normally be switched, then they all get fed too.

If both the switched power and the constant power are coming from the same side of the neutral, then there is no problem, it's a parallel supply from the same source. If the two were being fed by opposite phases, you would have a dead short across the 240V at the metal bridge. You would know that by now .

Then why bring it up? Although it is certainly possible to do otherwise for special purposes, most switched/unswitched outlets are on the same circuit.

Complete and utter nonsense. They could just as easily be fed by a different leg of the same circuit.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

Uhhh, just trying to teach somebody something? Sorry that offends you for some reason.

No argument there. Lots of people reading this group are trying to educate themselves. Maybe somewhere down the road somebody will remember that answee as a reason *not* to do it that way.

Hi, At least not in my house. I don't want to lose both at the same time. My doing. Tony

Just because that's how you did it, doesn't mean that's the only way it can be done.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

Hi, Why put all the eggs in one basket? That was my ligic. Tony

Are they on tied breakers?

If not, it's a code violation.

According to Tony Hwang :

So if an electrician comes in, pulls the breaker, they get zapped by the other leg?

Bad idea.

I don't believe that it is a code violation. I don't like to see multiple breakers feeding one box but the last time I looked it was within what the NEC permitted for 120 volts.

RB

Chris Lewis wrote:

Hi, What electrician is dumb enough to be zapped? Turning breaker off is not a guarantee in a real life. Ever heard of double checking with tester B4 touching it? Why is it a code violation? I am not an electrician. I am an EE. I did all my wiring with home owners DIY permit when house was built. Inspector asked me if I was a licenced electrician. Passed everything with flying colors. That was in 1994. I am retired now. Tony

It's a code violation because the Code prohibits it. I think everyone here knows you are not an electrician.

-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

According to RB :

Look a little more carefully w.r.t. "same strap".

The CEC is pretty anal about insisting on single disconnects for all power feeding a box. Failing that, you need metal partitions between sections and/or seals, labeling, and "unlikely to be accessible to non-licensed personnel" - the latter won't generally fly in residential installations.

Ie: residential main panels in Canada have metal partitions between the main feed connection/main breakers and the branch breaker section. Most panels have two covers so you can open the branch breaker section and swap breakers without exposing the main feed.

While the US NEC is somewhat looser in this regard than the CEC, they do insist on single common disconnect for all circuits feeding the "same strap". I've never been 100% sure what "same strap" means in this context, but it should cover this because the two circuits are on the same _device_ (split outlet), especially if they shared neutrals (only cut the hot jumper, not both. If you did that, I _hope_ that the two hots are on opposite panel legs, otherwise, you could melt the neutral without tripping a breaker).

I'm sure that a US inspector would fault it even if it wasn't quite a code violation if you didn't have a very good reason for it. Because the next person opening it may not be as careful as you.

Uh, that's "Same Yoke."

A Yoke refers to the (usually) metal strap that serves as the actual bracket a moulded plastic or phenolic device is mounted to.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, devices were interchangable on yokes. You could build your own custom devices consisting of any 3 combinations of: 2-prong outlets, single pole and 3-way switches, pilot lights, push buttons and even pull-chain switches.

During this combination device heyday (Late 40's to late 60's) residential tract housing was booming and developers PAID per device YOKES, not per device. (Or per single-gang box) and in many tract homes there might be only 2 or 3 locations with 2 or 3 switches, like the front door might have the outside light, kitchen light, and livingroom light or outlet switch all on one yoke.

This also made 3-wire cable a necessity to keep the number of conductors in a