"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
On 11/6/2009 8:38 PM dpb spake thus:

Existential Angst wrote:
...
The Q might be then, What constitutes "corresponding neutrals": one
neutral for one or two hots, or one big neutral for a bunch of hots?

Same as I gave you before except for 3-wire circuits--_every_ hot must
have its corresponding neutral, no exceptions.

Yes, and from the OP's continued queries, it sounds more and more like
they don't really don't know much about wiring, which makes what they're
trying to do pretty doubtful.

To reiterate: the *only* circumstance where two hot wires can share a
neutral is in a so-called "Edison" circuit. The requirement is that the
hot wires must be on different phases--in other words, from different
buses in the distribution panel. That way, the sum of currents in the one
neutral can never exceed the wire's rating. The OP said some vague things
about "balancing loads": it's a whole lot more specific than that.

There is nothing vague about "balancing loads".
What you may find vague, or perhaps are just unclear on yourself, is along
what part of the run can the load be balanced.

If you have 20 2-wire bx cables stopping, say, 10 feet short of a 20 circuit
panel, then, it seems to me, you can de facto *make* 10 edison circuits up
to the splice points, and therefore need only 10 neutrals going between the
panel and those 20 cables.

Thus, the edison circuit business is dependent on the actual *geometry of
the wiring*, ie, "partial length" edison circuits are possible.

Thus, your seemingly restrictive "only circumstance" for two hot wires
sharing one neutral is in fact a fairly non-limiting requirement in this
splicing circumstance, as ultimately, if a 20 circuit 240 V panel is filled,
you will *always* be able to make 10 edison circuits, for at least part of
the run.

AND, if you grok the above, then it follows that for that length of the
"edison run", you could, in principle, use one big neutral.

Not saying I will do this, just trying to eliminate some, well, vagaries.

Love your sig.
--
EA








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