Completely understand that single phase will have two legs.
I just am suprised that is is not against NEC to open all the
conductors ( excluding the ground) for the exact reasons you mentioned
below. There is the potential there of 115v. at the motor that in my
opinion just doesnt need to be there in an overload situation.



Thanks for the reply



On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 17:30:53 -0500, "Proctologically Violated©®"
wrote:

I think you are confusing legs w/ phases.
Altho there are, in fact, two legs going to your 230V motor, it's only one
phase (two legs in series), and interrupting either one will do the job.
This is not at all unusual.
Altho, most shut off swtiches will be double pole. Altho, you could get
away w/ a single pole switch as well--just not entirely safe, as parts of
the motor are always then "hot". Sorta like putting a swtich on a lite
fixtrue on the neutral side. ouch
In 3 ph, the situation is not so simple, and heaters, etc. are req'd on all
three legs.
Altho I have seen starters where only 2 of the three legs were protected.