In article , "Twayne" wrote:
In ,
Doug Miller typed:
In article , "Twayne"
wrote:
In ,
Doug Miller typed:
In article , "Twayne"
wrote:
In
,
fzbuilder typed:
Hey Guys, I have a double 20 amp breaker that is connected to each
other. I have one side running the kitchen and one side running
the washing machine in the garage. I was told this is a standard
practice,

110Vac appliances, right?

A "ganged" 20A breaker? If one breaker resets, they both have to,
right? Is that what you mean?
That's what it sounds like and definitely is non-code, NOT
standard practice, and as you're discovering can be dangerous!
Such breakers are intended to provide 220Vac to some piece of
equpiment, NOT as you are using it, to provide two 110Vac lines.

Wrong. Google "Edison circuit". Then stop giving advice on subjects
you're
completely ignorant of.

Don't have to. Everything still stands as written in its entirety.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a ganged 20A breaker to
power two 120V circuits -- as you would learn if you took the time to
educate yourself.

Actually, I figured out just a few minutes ago what the discrepencies
between what I'm saying and what you guys are talking about are. I'd left a
voicemail for our local code enforcement officer and decided he wouldn't be
returning calls this late, but he did.
Once we got by his disdain for newsgroups, it turns out that our local
codes forbid the use of multi-wire branches. We're in far upstate NY state.
That does make me feel better since multi-wire branches look and sound, even
though there are advantages to using them, like they are dangerous.

Only to the uninformed.

He
related the normal set of problems found 'round the 'net and a few others I
hadn't thought of. Apparently they're pretty easy to mis-install 220V or
110V wise; hadn't thought of that. And a few other sundries along the same
lines.

Nonsense -- they're almost impossible to mis-install, if you use the right
equipment. (And you said this is a type of circuit you "know well".)

BTW -- it hasn't been 220/110 in the United States for a loooooong time. It's
been 240/120 for at least the last 25 or 30 years.

Sometimes I tend to forget that NEC isn't the last word;

The NEC which you haven't read because you haven't been able to find it
anywhere...

it's just a bible
of the minimums, so to speak. So your comment to "educate" myself is
backwards: I've been talking about OUR local codes, not specifically the NEC
so I am guilty of using an "over" educated viewpoint.

No, you are guilty of using an ignorant, uninformed, uneducated viewpoint. You
stated, repeatedly, that Edison circuits are dangerous. That, quite simply, is
false. And that has nothing to do with national vs. local codes. That's an
issue only of truth vs. falsehood. There is nothing inherently dangerous about
a properly installed Edison circuit, your uninformed delusions to the contrary
notwithstanding.