My wife got me a "throwback Atari" which was not nearly as fun as my child-self wanted it to be. 4bit graphics is a bit too far from HD TV to handle the transition.
the current outlet by the W/D setup is a duplex outlet, the W plugged into one, and then the sump pump plugged into the other one. There's also a lead off going off of it to power some outside lights
Can I just get 2 15 a breakers and run 12/3 cable and use red for the bottom receptacle hot or should I run 2 12/2 cables and hook up the bottom receptacle separately?
(after breaking off the tab on the hot side of the receptacle)
@Aaron It depends on what you expect it to draw. If it draws 12-13 Amps, putting a 20A breaker in means that it might not trip if something goes wrong.
Based on this question, I decided to stick my multimeter prongs into my outlet. I got a neutral-to-ground of 60 volts. Then I got a hot-to-ground of 60 volts. Then I really started scratching my head.
First of all I'm pretty sure I know the theory behind the effect. I know about the inductive and capacitive coupling, about 3-phase balance problems and about ground bounce, so this question isn't about normality of existence of voltage between ground and neutral line.
What I want to know is in...
I started thinking that hot and neutral might be two lines that are out of phase, so I decided to test how much current I could run from neutral to ground. I didn't want to do so with the 10 amps my multimeter would pass before blowing its fuse, so I tried openign it up to swap a 1 amp in... but it was too small.
So, I took the multimeter leads off the meter, stuck the prongs in, and then used the other ends of them to squish together the 1 amp fuse. Neutral to ground, it didn't blow.
@ChrisCudmore, yes, the current setup has the sump pump, washer, and a outside light subpanel on the same circuit. I wish to change to make new circuit for washer by itself, dryer by itself, sump pump by itself, and outside light (and other "utility" receptacles) by itself
Wanting to try the simple and lazy approach, I came back home with a 3 light plug-in tester. It developed a pattern that wasn't documented: the center light lit, and the two outer lights flickered.
Old dryer was a hardwired 220... and actually, come to think of it, I already do have 12/3 wire at that location, so maybe I'll just use that wire instead of running new (it is now just hanging out in its box, with breaker off (and taped)
@Aaron honestly, I can't think of a good reason not to run a 20A circuit, except for the cost of materials. Which, in a house, shouldn't be a significant issue.
IMO, of course. I'd much rather have circuits that are too heavy than too light.
My little tester came with a GFCI test button. I figured since all the GFCI test buttons on the outlets were working, I'd take it a step furhter and use an external short. The outlets aren't tripping from the external test, but are from the internal test.
I still haven't figured it out fully, but I'm starting to suspect that somebody creatively wired the GFCI.
Project 2 is to 12-volt my desk, exchanging all the adapters for a single power supply and parallel taps with individual fuses. This is to power an Arduino, my speakers, external hard drive, etc. While i'm wiring all that up, I'm also going to run small motors up to the top of my curtains so that the Arduino opens and closes them electrically as an alarm clock.
Like my septic system pump - 240V, 15A. I could have used 14/2. Plus the septic control panel, another 14/2. Or a 10/2 to a subpanel, and then the pump gets to sit on 10ga wire and last longer.
NEC 2008 210.11 **Branch Circuits Required** (C) **Dwelling Units** (2) **Laundry Branch Circuits.** In addition to the number of branch circuits required by other parts of this section, at least one additional 20-ampere branch circuit shall be provided to supply the laundry receptacle outlet(s) required by 210.52(F). This circuit shall have no other outlets.
(Because the run was long, I went from 10ga to 8ga; 8ga copper costs 2x as much as the next size up Al they had, which was 2ga, so I used that instead. For a 15A pump. ha ha.)
Yes - although I suppose at that point it might just make more sense to make 2 individual single outlets and boxes, but I bought a bunch of duplex receptacles
@Aaron: you could probably find a way within the NEC rules to do that, but I think it's a bad idea, because it's nice to be able to kill everything in a junction box at once.
210.4 Multiwire Branch Circuits (B) Disconnecting Means. Each multiwire branch circuit shall be provided with a means that will simultaneously disconnect all ungrounded conductors at the point where the branch circuit originates
But both legs might be in use at the same time. And as someone else pointed out if I have to turn off the breaker for one, I have to turn them off for both, but that's my choice for sharing the neutral leg
Yes, but each circuit has its own hot, and the neutral is 180 degrees out of phase, so you get the full 20a on each. At least that's what I've gleaned from our discussion so far :)
@Aaron MWBC wasn't required to have double-poles before a more recent version of the NEC (just a best practice). Handle-ties are the workaround for old installs.
Functionally it's fine, the only real issue is that they can be removed by "Harry Homeowner"
@Aaron why are you opposed to running 2 separate circuits? I don't think you'll be able to use the cable that's already in place (likely 6-8ga), since you'll have a hard time hooking up a 15A receptacle to that wire.
So, how about this - 20amp dual pole breaker in the panel to the existing ????/3 wire which is "near" the W/D area (was for old dryer) Then a junction box with the ????/3 wire going into it with wire nuts inside it going to 12/3 wire which goes into the duplex receptacle with the hot broken as mentioned above
@Tester101, it is big, I don't know for sure
And then I will use the old circuit that is now for the washer for the sump pump
First of all I'm pretty sure I know the theory behind the effect. I know about the inductive and capacitive coupling, about 3-phase balance problems and about ground bounce, so this question isn't about normality of existence of voltage between ground and neutral line.
What I want to know is in...
