NEC 2017: Two voltages on 2-pole breaker (not mwbc)

[anythingyoucanimagine]

Friends just bought a new-to-them house and I've never seen this before. He's got 2-pole 20A breakers supplying three circuits: Two 120V and one 240V circuit. Not mwbc, he's got three 12/2 wires going to each breaker, two 120v are hot-to-breaker then neutral/ground to bars then one 12/2 supplying a 240v branch.

Is that compliant with the nec? Looks like whoever did the work at the house did everything else correct. No doubled up neutrals, everything looks really neat and clean, they added extra ground bars in the panel... But the thing is packed full. No cheater breakers but where they were able to do so, they shoved two conductors into every 15A and 20A breaker they could. Weird to see three circuits on a single 2-pole breaker.

Thanks & happy holidays.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Sounds like it could be a quad breaker.

But then you mentioned multiple hot wires under each breaker lug. That is not code compliant for majority of breakers that are only listed for one wire per lug.

Can you take some pics and post them here?

 

[yatg]

I can visualize what your friend has going on. Creative. Not a best practice and would easily trip the breaker if the 240 load is near 20A and one of the other 120 loads puts it over. If the breaker doesn't allow 2 wires, that can be fixed with a wirenut and a pigtail. Not a MWBC like you said so 210.4 doesn't apply (each 120 has its own neutral, and the 240 has no neutral).

I don't think you'll find anything that specifically prohibits this, but there's a lot of other things that might. Such as the 240V equipment instructions call for a dedicated breaker, or the 120V is feeding a bathroom or SABC, which calls for a 20A circuit, and it can be argued that sharing a breaker isn't allowed.

 

[Terry D]

sounds like you have a severe double lugging issue going on. Not sure what you mean by having (3) 12/2 NM-b to each breaker. So you have a 2-pole breaker feeding a 240 volt load, then someone wired 2 more circuits to it acting like it was 2 single poles. As already mentioned, only one wire per lug is allowed per code. And it sounds like there are more breakers that are double lugged. The thing about cheater breakers is, your newer panels, are only rated for a certain number of circuits. So filling up a panel with cheaters and taking it over the rated number of circuits, is also a violation. I install a lot of 30/40 panels. 30 full size breakers or 20 full size and 10 tandems. The tandems will only fit in where allowed. You friend probably needs a panel change out or a sub panel installed to gain more space. Or possibly a service upgrade. You could pigtail it as mentioned, but there are probably some breakers that are over loaded or close to it.

 

[Jim greengo]

The only breakers I'm aware of that are made to be double tapped at the breakers are Sq D homeline.
As far as the rest of it goes I'd need to see a picture.

 

[MattT]

Since the house is "new to them" no telling what version of the NEC applies but it probably isn't 2017. Unless you know when the house was built, or rewired, and what code was current in that jurisdiction at the time can't really say whether the install is code compliant.

The only breakers I'm aware of that are made to be double tapped at the breakers are Sq D homeline.
As far as the rest of it goes I'd need to see a picture.

Regular QOs will accept two wires per lug.

 

[Jim greengo]

Since the house is "new to them" no telling what version of the NEC applies but it probably isn't 2017. Unless you know when the house was built, or rewired, and what code was current in that jurisdiction at the time can't really say whether the install is code compliant.



Regular QOs will accept two wires per lug.

 

[anythingyoucanimagine]

Thanks for all the replies. MattT yes, I guess you are correct. I think the house was built in the late 1980's. I went to high school with a guy who is a 3rd year journeyman so was asking about 2017 because that's what our state is on and I assumed if he came over to take a look any work he would perform would be 2017.

MattT and Jim, I don't know about QO's but this is square d homeline. Yes, the traditional breakers without g/a/combo protection state right on them that they can take two conductors. The ones with the white pigtails only accept one conductor.

Wylie I don't have pics but they are square-d homeline that each lug accepts two conductors. They aren't doubled up. Was just strange to see that they had put 120V circuits and 240V circuits on same 2-pole breaker. The 240V circuit is 12/2 (no neutral) and the 120v circuits are each 12/2 with a neutral.

yatg, yes, it's exactly what you describe. I was just curious. The work looks too good to be DIY/homeowner but borderline sloppy professional. I'd think if someone put in a 2-pole 240v SABC the devices wouldn't call for dedicated circuits or breakers. idk... not my house, I was just curious. Never thought that sharing a breaker for sabc or bathroom wouldn't be allowed. I never had those issues. I put in the biggest panel I could find so I wouldn't have any of those over-crowding issues.

Terry_D, yep he's got a lot going on in there. It's actually pretty neat/clean but it's maxed. I'm pretty sure it's the basic 20-space, 20-circuit panel. There weren't any cheater breakers, just basically every breaker that could accept two conductors had two conductors in it. Good news is he just bought the house so he can play dumb. It'll be easy to put in a bigger panel or a second panel.

Thanks for all the replies.