In article , Richard J Kinch wrote:
Doug Miller writes:

Try again, Ace. A dead short is hot-to-ground, where there will be a
large current flow.

Two hots can be dead shorted to each other, not necessarily to ground or
neutral.

Yes, they can - if the breaker is placed so that the two hots are on
*opposite* legs of the service.

This happens with the breaker misplaced as I suggested.

No, it does not. With the breaker positioned so that both poles are on the
*same* leg of the service, the two hot conductors are at exactly the same
potential. Connecting them together has no effect. Same potential = no current
flow = no circuit = no short circuit.

And it
causes problems if there is a backfeed somewhere down the line.

Oh, really? Do tell. Where is this mysterious backfeed going to come from, and
what sort of problems will it cause?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?