Hello

I just finished wiring my basement with 12/3 wire. I was planning on
using a double pole breaker with two circuits and a shared neutral
(alternating circuits between outlets). My run is around the
perimeter of my basement inside wood framing studs. After all was said
and done with the requried routing, I've used about 250ft of wire.

I'm concerned that I may have too long of a run and that, instead of
creating one big 250ft run with alternating circuits on a double pole
20A breaker, I should just have two 125ft circuits on separate 20A
breakers. I guess now's the time to make my decision before I go into
my panel. I've already run the 12-3 wire but I don't mind using only
2 of the 3 wires if that will make these circuits better performing and
safer.

The reading I have done so far and the 13.6% voltage drop at 20A
calculated using this website:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

has me leaning heavily toward two separate 125ft circuits.

Any feedback is apprecaited. Thanks!

Kevin

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

I just finished wiring my basement with 12/3 wire. I was planning on
using a double pole breaker with two circuits and a shared neutral
(alternating circuits between outlets). My run is around the
perimeter of my basement inside wood framing studs. After all was said
and done with the requried routing, I've used about 250ft of wire.

I'm concerned that I may have too long of a run and that, instead of
creating one big 250ft run with alternating circuits on a double pole
20A breaker, I should just have two 125ft circuits on separate 20A
breakers. I guess now's the time to make my decision before I go into
my panel. I've already run the 12-3 wire but I don't mind using only
2 of the 3 wires if that will make these circuits better performing and
safer.

The reading I have done so far and the 13.6% voltage drop at 20A
calculated using this website:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

has me leaning heavily toward two separate 125ft circuits.

Any feedback is apprecaited. Thanks!

A balanced multiwire circuit can be half the voltage drop because there is
no return path.
So, there are two things to consider... will you actually be using 20a on
each side, and can you get a balanced circuit.

Then you might want to rethink things; 20a is too much for a 125' run of
12/2.

I really don't plan on using 20A on either side. I was planning on
using the 20A mainly because I had the 12 gage wire & I was sticking
with the 12 gage because of my run length. I originally thought the
length would be about 170ft but I didn't take into account the routing
I had to do up and down to my outlet boxes and around things.

I would call the circuits light use with a TV, dehumidifier
(spring/summer) and possibly an electric space heater (occasionally) in
the winter. Maybe a computer and some lamps will eventually be down
there too but I don't plan on using really heavy draw power tools or
having a workshop down there or anything.

Lights are on a separate 15A circuit.

Thanks for your feedback!

Also, could you elaborate on how I can reduce the voltage drop with my
12-3 wire?

One other thing I forgot to mention...

If I split the circuit into two 125ft runs, most of my electrical loads
I mentioned above would end up on one of the circuits. And, naturally,
my circuit breaker box is at the opposite corner of my basement from
where most of the used outlets will be.

Thanks again for your feedback.
Kevin

" wrote in message
oups.com...
One other thing I forgot to mention...

If I split the circuit into two 125ft runs, most of my electrical loads
I mentioned above would end up on one of the circuits. And, naturally,
my circuit breaker box is at the opposite corner of my basement from
where most of the used outlets will be.

If all the heavy stuff will be on one of the 125' circuits, you wouldn't
gain anything that way; it will still be too much and too long.
You have to get the following right, or you risk burning your house down.
No joke; don't do it unless you are darned sure you are doing it correctly.
A multiwire circuit is essentially a 240v circuit split between two 120v
circuits. If you can get the two circuits reasonably balanced, the only
current coming back on the neutral is the difference between the two; so
there is little or no voltage drop on the neutral which reduces the total
voltage drop.
Unfortunately, the dehumidifier and the heater are both big loads and
impossible to balance. Unless you can get them at the first part of the
run, you are out of luck. You could get a 240v heater (which is
automatically balanced), but I haven't seen a 240v dehumidifier.

To be sure you would have to do a detailed analysis with specific loads and
distances, but I suspect you are looking at putting in either a #10 circuit
for the big loads or a 240v circuit.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

I just finished wiring my basement with 12/3 wire. I was planning on
using a double pole breaker with two circuits and a shared neutral
(alternating circuits between outlets). My run is around the
perimeter of my basement inside wood framing studs. After all was said
and done with the requried routing, I've used about 250ft of wire.

I'm concerned that I may have too long of a run and that, instead of
creating one big 250ft run with alternating circuits on a double pole
20A breaker, I should just have two 125ft circuits on separate 20A
breakers. I guess now's the time to make my decision before I go into
my panel. I've already run the 12-3 wire but I don't mind using only
2 of the 3 wires if that will make these circuits better performing and
safer.

The reading I have done so far and the 13.6% voltage drop at 20A
calculated using this website:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

has me leaning heavily toward two separate 125ft circuits.

Any feedback is apprecaited. Thanks!

Kevin


Kevin, stop worrying about the voltage drop in your basement. It won't be a
problem with the intermittent loads that you will have on your outlets. You
can have 2- 20amp circuits or 4-20 amp circuits. That decision is up to
you. Don't double up any hot wires. If you have 12/3 going to each box you
can alternate circuits in every other box. For instance box one will be fed
from the black wire, box two will be fed from the red wire, box three will
be fed from the black wire and so on. That way you will have more even use
of the circuits, but balancing them should not be a major concern of yours
either.

Now get to work. I want to see pictures of the finished product. :-)

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello

I just finished wiring my basement with 12/3 wire. I was planning on
using a double pole breaker with two circuits and a shared neutral
(alternating circuits between outlets). My run is around the
perimeter of my basement inside wood framing studs. After all was said
and done with the requried routing, I've used about 250ft of wire.

I'm concerned that I may have too long of a run and that, instead of
creating one big 250ft run with alternating circuits on a double pole
20A breaker, I should just have two 125ft circuits on separate 20A
breakers. I guess now's the time to make my decision before I go into
my panel. I've already run the 12-3 wire but I don't mind using only
2 of the 3 wires if that will make these circuits better performing and
safer.

The reading I have done so far and the 13.6% voltage drop at 20A
calculated using this website:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

has me leaning heavily toward two separate 125ft circuits.

Any feedback is apprecaited. Thanks!

Kevin


I don't know how you have done your wiring but I don't think you have any
outlets that are really 250' of wire length to the panel. Didn't you go to
a certain place and branch out? I think you would calculate the drop of each
outlet independently. The furthest one away would be the worst case
everything else would be in between. If you are really worried about it
then run 10/3 from the panel to the first junction. However I would consider
splitting things up and adding at least 2 more breakers.

FYI- I have a 1300 sf basement and have 6 circuits for outlets/lights. 3 are
20A and 3 are 15A. Not including a bathroom and furnace room which also have
there own circuits. That is for 5 rooms and a hallway. A couple of the
circuits are used for lighting as well as outlets.

I used 12/3 on the 3 rooms that I finished myself. I use the extra wire to
provide some switched outlets.

Kevin

Thanks again to all for your feedback. I'll try not to worry about the
voltage drop but I just want to make sure I do this right! :-) I will
be living with it for a long time. :-)

See the image below for a rough drawing of my layout. The outlets are
spaced so that they meet the spacing required by code with a couple
extra thrown in just for convenient locations.

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/6990/layout27yn.jpg

My current plan is to separate the circuits at the 125ft corner rather
than have one big 240v split circuit with alternating outlets that I
have to balance. If anybody else has feedback I'd love to hear it.
Specifically, is there any way to reduce voltage drop on a long run
other than to use super high gage wire that is a PITA to work with?