On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 23:00:24 GMT, (Doug Miller) wrote:


Doug, you seem to know what you are talking about. What's your experience
with how often this is actually done? It seems to me that, though legal and
safe, someone might forget how this is setup and rearrange breakers/wiring
in the future, creating an unsafe situation. Are there any requirements for
tagging such a configuration?

It seems to me that it's a pretty common thing. There are no requirements for
tagging it that I'm aware of, but if it's wired properly (double-pole breaker,
and 12/3 wire, with red and black hot wires) the installation itself should be
sufficient to identify it as what it is -- and with a double-pole breaker,
it's impossible to break it up by rearranging the breakers.

Doug is absolutely correct in his posts on this, IME. In fact consider
that if someone wanted a "group" of outlets in one box from two circuits,
12/3 would be the safest way to do it (with all Doug's caveats about the
breakers). (It may be required under the NEC to have all hot wires within
a box controlled by the same breaker, or paired breakers, but I have
unfortunately encountered boxes that are hot from separate breakers.) It
is common in my non-pro experience to use 12/3 to run series of outlets
along a counter, switching circuits back and forth along the way. For
example, in a kitchen. -- Igor