jraksdhs

Im doing a remodel and ran into something i havent seen before. I needed to locate the breaker in the panel to turn off an outside GFCI receptical, but when doing so i found out that it took turning off two breakers in order to terminate power to the receptical. I have never run into a situation like this and was quite puzzled. I wired my whole shop and have never been afraid and of tackling most electrical situations. If you know what the reason for this please let me know....thanks!

jraks

mics_54

I've never heard of such a thing

rrich

Something with a transformer is plugged into a circuit with a loose neutral circuit???

__________________
Use the right tool for the job.

Rich (Tilting right)
Huntington Beach, California
Remember that when we have the "BIG ONE" everything east of the Rockies falls into the ocean.

GeorgeC

Bad original wiring job. Electrician got distracted and wired one outlet/switch to both circuits?

G

jraksdhs

"Bad original wiring job. Electrician got distracted and wired one outlet/switch to both circuits?"



I still dont understand how that is possible?

rrich

Typically a GFI outlet has two sets of wires. The first come from the supply and go into the GFI circuitry. The second set of wires are used to feed protected outlets down stream of the GFI outlet.

So yeah it is "Possible" but it really requires a brain dead electrician.

Maybe the previous owner tried to "fix" a dead circuit (GFI Tripped) by thinking it was easier to just pull a new wire to the breaker panel?

I've seen worse.

__________________
Use the right tool for the job.

Rich (Tilting right)
Huntington Beach, California
Remember that when we have the "BIG ONE" everything east of the Rockies falls into the ocean.

Gerry KIERNAN

Is it possible that you are dealing with a double circuit? Two beakers supplying a string of lights and outlets? I have a double circuit in my shop. Two 15 amp breakers supplying power to a circuit containing lights and outlets. Problem is they don't always trip at the same time, as they are not ganged.

Gerry

rrich

Gerry,
My first thought was "WHAT?" Then I started thinking... Oh, OK...

Two circuit breakers (one off of each phase) supplying lights and outlets. For simplicity, the red phase goes to the outlets and the black phase goes to the lights. HOWEVER both use the same neutral (white) wire. Normal, acceptable in NEC and the current in the neutral circuit will never exceed 15 Amps. (Thank you Mr. Kirchhoff)In fact the measured current in the neutral leg will approach zero Amps. BTW - This type of wiring is normal in most cube farms.

As for ganged breakers, no, you should not use a ganged breaker for this type of application. This is really two separate circuits with a common neutral.

__________________
Use the right tool for the job.

Rich (Tilting right)
Huntington Beach, California
Remember that when we have the "BIG ONE" everything east of the Rockies falls into the ocean.

Gerry KIERNAN

[quote=rrich;95863]Gerry,
My first thought was "WHAT?" Then I started thinking... Oh, OK...

I also thought this was a strange approach. However, the wiring was done long before I arrived on the scene. My longer term plans are to rewire and add circuits, once I decide where I feel is the best part of the building to set up my heavier woodworking equipment. As the main panel is 200 amp, and supplying two 100 amp sub-panels there is lots of room in the 200 amp panel to divert and add some circuits.

Gerry

jraksdhs

Im not so sure you guys understand what is going on here. Let me try to explain better. The GFCI outlet ouside the home has one set of wires going to it and it requires two different breakers to shut it off. By the way....the home it brand new.

jraks

TomC

I'm sure when you open the breaker/breakers several recipticles are being deenergized. Some where upstream of the GFI outlet there are two sets of hot wires going to the deenergized outlets. The two hot wire don't have to be in the GFI outlet.
I take it the breakers are not located one on top the other. They must be coming from the same leg of 115V in the breaker panel.
Tom