3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

Don't know what you are talking about or asking. If you don't know how to
describe a simple setup, possibly you should not be touching anything.

"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
...
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
...
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

Each wire goes to one side at 120 volts. The ground is common.

If you don't know about this, I'd advise two things.
1. Don't touch anything yet
2. Get a basic electricity book

There is nothing magical about electricity in the home, but the learning
curve can be deadly so don't overstep your skill level.

It's called buss. There are two separate busses, one for each leg. When your
main breaker is "on" the current passes to each of the two busses and the
circuit breakers are snapped onto this buss to send the electricity to the
individual loads


"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
...
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

BoyntonStu wrote:
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

Your 100A breaker takes 4 spaces. But no they can't - each incoming wire
connects to only one of the panel busses even though each half of the
breaker covers both busses. The breaker might actually use connection to
only 2 of the spaces or if it might use all 4 but stager the connection
inside the breaker.

--
bud--

On Dec 13, 10:47 am, bud-- wrote:
BoyntonStu wrote:
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

Your 100A breaker takes 4 spaces. But no they can't - each incoming wire
connects to only one of the panel busses even though each half of the
breaker covers both busses. The breaker might actually use connection to
only 2 of the spaces or if it might use all 4 but stager the connection
inside the breaker.

--
bud--

Bud,

OK One bus must be longer in length than the other in order for the
top part to reach over the shorter bus and contact the 2nd breaker
output.


An electrician found an error in my breaker box and I was curious.

He measured 240 VAC between a black wire and a white wire.

Someone had connected the white wire to the panel neutral side of a
GFCI breaker? Duh!

I could not understand how 240 VAC could exist.

He simply grounded the white wire everything was dandy.


Do you understand the situation?

I'm not understanding you. On some panels, one leg of buss would be longer
to reach a horizontally installed main breaker. A 120 volt GFCI breaker has
a white wire on it that gets installed on the neutral buss.



"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
...
On Dec 13, 10:47 am, bud-- wrote:
BoyntonStu wrote:
3 wires coming into panel.

1 wire to ground.

2 other wires have 240 volts between them.

Each wire is connected to a 100 Amp breaker that is ganged to another.

Where do these wires connect to when the breaker is ON?

IOW If there is 240 VAC between these 2 wires they can't connect to
the same strip, can they?

Your 100A breaker takes 4 spaces. But no they can't - each incoming wire
connects to only one of the panel busses even though each half of the
breaker covers both busses. The breaker might actually use connection to
only 2 of the spaces or if it might use all 4 but stager the connection
inside the breaker.

--
bud--

Bud,

OK One bus must be longer in length than the other in order for the
top part to reach over the shorter bus and contact the 2nd breaker
output.


An electrician found an error in my breaker box and I was curious.

He measured 240 VAC between a black wire and a white wire.

Someone had connected the white wire to the panel neutral side of a
GFCI breaker? Duh!

I could not understand how 240 VAC could exist.

He simply grounded the white wire everything was dandy.


Do you understand the situation?

On Dec 13, 3:44 pm, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
I'm not understanding you. On some panels, one leg of buss would be longer
to reach a horizontally installed main breaker. A 120 volt GFCI breaker has
a white wire on it that gets installed on the neutral buss.



Yes, it had the 20 volt GFCI breaker with a white wire on it
installed on the neutral buss.

The other white wire from the black/white pair, was initially
connected to the neutral of the GFCI.

When it was removed, it measured 240 VAC to the black of another
circuit breaker output.

That was the surprise and confusion.

In article , BoyntonStu wrote:
On Dec 13, 3:44 pm, "RBM" rbm2(remove wrote:
I'm not understanding you. On some panels, one leg of buss would be longer
to reach a horizontally installed main breaker. A 120 volt GFCI breaker has
a white wire on it that gets installed on the neutral buss.



Yes, it had the 20 volt

Obviously a typo -- but what digit is missing? Was that supposed to be 120, or
240?

GFCI breaker with a white wire on it
installed on the neutral buss.

The other white wire from the black/white pair, was initially
connected to the neutral of the GFCI.

On a 120V GFCI breaker, that's where it's *supposed* to be connected.

When it was removed, it measured 240 VAC to the black of another
circuit breaker output.

That was the surprise and confusion.

Not surprising at all if you stop and think about it. Disconnect (carefully!!)
the neutral wire for any circuit from the bus bar. Turn on some load on
that circuit (e.g. a light bulb). Then measure the voltage between that
neutral wire and the terminal of an adjacent circuit breaker (which in most
panels will be on the opposite leg of the service). 240VAC is exactly what you
should see.

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

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.