It's called an Edison or multiwire branch circuit. It's perfectly proper and
legal. It is essential that the two conductors sharing the neutral be on
legs of different potential in the panel, which you seemed to have verified.
It's also vital that the neutral be enact and tight or the potential for
high voltage backfeed exists



"sean_n" wrote in message
...

In the last 2 years, our microwaves have been breaking very quickly.
We suspect that it might be our electrical wiring. I've noticed that
the microwave and refrigerator are sharing the same neutral wire.
What's the chances of this being the cause of our microwave problems?
I believe sharing the neutral wire was common practice in the old
days--but is against code. Is this true? The microwave and
refrigerator are on circuits that are out of phase--I believe that
makes a difference but would like confirmation on this. We've had
this setup for the last 17 years and only in the last 2 years we've
been having microwave problems. I would hate to have to run another
wire unless it's absolutely necessary.