1 Circuit 2 Breakers

mrmike

CER. I have never come across this- but there is definatly a safety hazard here & I would talk the homeowner into having me investigate & repair it. And the only way to do it-is to trace it out, & find the problem & fix it.
As far as other replies going into " qualified electricians" there is a very gray area there. I have seen many with "water-theology" & "code freaks" that were not very good in the field. I have worked on stuff that a Electrical contrator had installed, that he knowingly took shortcuts & went against code. To me that is worse than an "unqualified" person making a mistake. I have seen electrical panels installed by "handyman" that were Superb.

Just do it !!

Tinstaafl

Not required in PA.

But electrical inspections are required, and I have yet to flunk one (that'll probably happen on Monday now). I do everything from service upgrades to wiring complete additions with kitchen & bath areas.

I'm a good reader, have the code books, and am absolutely anal about doing my homework before and during a project. It helped tremendously that I was mentored when I began working in the trades by an old-timer who now accepts me as an equal.

Apologies to all for the thread hijack; I was in a strange mood last night.

Getting back to the OP, I have a client right now who has that exact same two-breaker situation. In his case, it was discovered during a kitchen remodel, when the new dishwasher was delivered and installed. That circuit, with its own breaker, is somehow tied in with the counter outlets on a different breaker.

I've been nagging him for two months now to let me find and correct it, but so far he's had other priorities. <sigh>

ampman

when i ran a crew for a big e.c. if a new guy said he had a degree in electronics first thing he would do is grab a shovel

220/221

There is a very good chance that the DW/disp circuit is run with a countertop recep circuit in a 12/3 cable.

The circuits may have been tied together in the JB that has the disp switch and a recep in it and the two circuits eneded up on the same phase.

I did a panel change once and when I put everything back together I naturally installed a 12/3 on different legs, right next to each other. I turned everything on and had a phase to phase short.

The cable supplied the washer and dryer. For some reason they felt the need to have separate circuits for each (never seen that before) so they ran a 12/3 to a duplex recep but didn't break out the tab. They then installed the circuits on the same phase and all was well for 30 years until I came along and installed it correctly.

__________________
Just because it's within code doesn't make it safe.

Just because it's against code doesn't make it unsafe.

Tinstaafl

Y'know, that makes a lot of sense. I installed designer switches & outlets for that remodel, and remember being struck by how much [apparently] unnecessary 12/3 I saw in various boxes. If he ever gets around to letting me work on it, I'll look for that. Thanks!

I'll keep bugging him. At the least, I need to know whether I fell asleep at the wheel when doing that work, and I was the goofball responsible for the miswiring.

CER

I would like to thank all on there input for this thread but I need to clear some things up. The customer did in fact lead me astray therefor me asking a stupid question for having all my experience. Yes I knew it was a safety issue but he talked a half hour about this switch and I was unable to all he said into my question. I also worded the question so I sounded dumb. All in all he had a local electrical company work on his system and he made it sound like there was a reason for this two breaker system. So when I show up to do tthis remodel I am under an impression of not understanding something because of this customers story. So please forgive me for sounding stupid but it sounded stupid when I heard it. Anyways it ended up that after I got there for the remodel and started to research the problem it ended up being so simple I do feel dumb. I took the cover plate off. saw one lone wire feeding the switch and no wires going to the outlet. I assumed right there the customer tried a home job and made a easy blunder for not knowing electrical. He simply tried to wire over from the switch and couldn't figure out why his light came on every time he plugged something in. Most of you already have the picture from here but I double checked this 2 breaker bunk and it was only on one circuit. I disbelieve any local company worked there either. So sorry for all the controversey over nothing. I will keep my mouth shut next time as some of you are so miserable with your comments that I would rather grab a hot wire to see if its on than testing it or asking a question!!