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single pole load to double pole breaker Resource: safe electric wiring |
| Use only 600 volt wire. Lamp cord, extension cords are not rated 600 volt. Use copper wire only. Aluminum wire is fire risk and should be avoided or installed by professional. 30 amp breaker use 10 gauge / 120-240 volt 30 amp outlet can be installed on 30 amp breaker only/ use 10 gauge wire ... cannot be connected to 15-20-40 amp breaker.  Orange/ #10 gauge wire, with ground ... 30 amp capacity. Safe maximum: 30 x 80% = 24 amps. Buy: 10-2 gauge/ 30 amp 10-3/ 30 amp Southwire electric tools |
Yellow
12 gauge 20 amp 120 volt 20 amp outlet can be installed on 20 amp breaker, but not 15 amp breaker/ use 12 ga wire. ... cannot be connected to 30-40 amp breaker. 1  Yellow/ #12 gauge wire, with ground ... 20 amp capacity. Safe maximum 16 amps. Buy: 12-2 gauge/ 20 amp 12-3/ 20 amp NMB is house wiring UF is underground Rolls of stranded wire HOOK UP Wires |
White
14 gauge 15 amp 120 volt 15 amp outlet, AFCI, GFCI, timer, switch etc can be installed on 15 or 20 amp breaker. Never connect 15 gauge wire to 20-30-40 amp breaker.  White/ #14 gauge wire, with ground ... 15 amp capacity. Safe maximum 12 amps. Buy: 14-2 gauge/ 15 amp 14-3/ 15 amp NMB is house wiring UF is underground |
| 50-60
amp breaker use 6 gauge / 240 volt 50 outlet can be installed on 50 amp breaker only  Buy: 6-2 wire Southwire electric tools NMB is house wiring UF is underground |
40-50
amp breaker use 8 gauge / 240 volt 40 amp outlet can be installed on 40 or 50 amp breaker only  Buy: 8-2 wire Southwire electric tools NMB is house wiring UF is underground |
  Copper ground wire. Every device, load, metal enclosure etc must be grounded. Ground wire must be continuous throughout installation, never switched on-off, never used as a Neutral wire. Generally ... use same size as other wire in circuit Buy: 12 gauge copper ground wire Ground wire Green ground wire Ground pigtails Ground rods/ ground clamps at Amazon |
 Non metallic flexible cables must carry ground wire, but do not have hazard of short circuit causing injury from shock. Armored steel cable can be used as a grounded connection, and will protect wires from damage. Metal can be energized from an insulation failure. All conduit ...metal, plastic ... flexible and rigid ... must be attached to structure, and attached to enclosures, boxes. Movement, damage and deterioration are major cause of electrical failure. Buy: Non-metallic flexible conduit Power whip Armored cable Southwire armored cable cutter Pull boxes |
 Electrical tools must be insulated. Always best to disconnect power, but insulation failure, lack of proper grounding, grounded neutral, lack of GFCI, out-of-code wiring, generator operating without transfer switch, and other problems still pose a risk to anyone working on electric power ... even when breaker is off. Buy: Electrician tools kits KLEIN TOOLS Tools kits IRWIN tools KNIPEX Telephone cable knife Low Voltage Mounting Bracket for Telephone |
Push-on wire connectors in place of twist-on connectorsBuy:Push on wire connectors Amazon Red 3P connector for 10-14 gauge wire Lever connectors for stranded wire at Amazon HOOK UP Wires |
 Protect wiring from damage Use nipper instead of pliers or screwdriver for removing staples (and nails). Do not damage cable or wires inside cable. -Code says: Cable SHALL BE secured without damage to the outer covering. NEC sec. 336-15 Buy End cutting nippers at Amazon |
  Electrically insulated tools When removing insulation from wire, do NOT score or put cuts on surface of copper wire. Doing so increases resistance and heat on wire and creates possible weak point. Buy tools: KLEIN TOOLS Wire strippers at Amazon Electric Wire Stripping Machine Linesman pliers Utility knife at Amazon |
 Multimeters Voltage is tested across two separate wires. Ohms or resistance is tested across both ends of same wire. Amperage is tested along one or two points on same wire. Buy: Analog multimeter Multimeters at Amazon Klein multimeter Electric testers at Amazon Clampmeter for testing amp flow on line |
 GFCI circuit breaker A GFCI circuit breaker will protect all boxes on circuit. Circuit must be grounded. Ground wire must be continuous and connected to each piece of equipment. White wire on circuit breaker must be connected to Neutral busbar inside the breaker panel. Buy GFCI circuit breakers |
Push down 1" wide Push down breaker Plug-in breaker Buy single-pole: Choose from 15 to 60 amp Eaton CL series Siemens 15-60 amp Single-pole tandem breaker Tandem breakers |
Push down 2" wide Push down breaker Plug-in breakers Buy double-pole: Choose from 15 to 125 amp Choose from 15 amp to 200 amp Eaton CL series circuit breaker Siemens circuit breaker Double pole GFCI |
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Sub panels/ Main lug/ Load
center Buy Indoor 120-240 volt: 100 amp 6 space 125 amp 8-space 125 amp 20 space Buy Outdoor/ from my affiliate links: 120-240 Volt 70 amp 2-space 60-100-200 amp 2-space Buy main load center: 200 amp INDOOR 30 space HOM Tandem breaker Resource: How to install subpanel |
| Question: Can I connect 120 volt 30 amp single-pole load to 30 amp double breaker? Answer: Yes. 30 amp requires 10 gauge wire. Always use solid copper wire, and make connections very tight. Question: Can I connect 120 volt 15 amp to 30 amp double breaker. Answer: No. Not unless you install 15 amp line fuse on the wire. The fuse must be easily accessible and not concealed inside a box. A fuse can be installed at the load and still protect entire length of wire. The best solution is always connect to correct size breaker, or install tandem breaker if panel does not have enough spaces. Resource: Fuseholders Not enough space in breaker box See inside main breaker box Basic household wiring diagrams Why ground wire is needed |
| Question: Isn't a 30 amp double pole breaker is same as two 30 amp single pole breakers stuck together, so I can put 30 amps on each leg? Answer: Yes, because the breaker draws 30 amps from each busbar. Question: If you load a panel up with only single pole breakers can you put 200 amps on each leg? Answer: No. 200 amps on each leg would be 400 total amps. If you draw 400 Amps, the main breaker will trip. A 200 Amp 120/240Volt panel has maximum 200 Amp, no matter if loads are 120Volts or 240Volts. Note, breakers are generally not fast-acting. They allow a certain amount of overamperage (heat) before tripping, which means actual amperage can exceed the amp rating. However, chronically overclocking breakers will cause the breaker and busbar to get warm or hot, causing them to wear out over time. Use hand to test if breakers are running hot when under load. Breakers should not feel warm. Damaging the busbar causes permanent damage to the breaker box, and the breaker slot becomes non functional. The safe maximum for breaker calculation is 80%. If breaker is rated 30 amp, then 30 x .8 = 24 amp safe maximum. 200 amp main breaker x .8 = 160 amp safe maximum. Add up wattage of loads on each breaker, and divide by voltage to get amperage at full load. Add up total amperage on all breakers to determine if electric service provides enough amps. Using this guideline will prevent long term issues and help protect investment. Question: Can I put 190 amps on one leg, and 5 amps on another leg? Answer: No. Unbalanced voltage can cause damage to motors, HVAC etc. Install 'voltage monitor' to protect vulnerable circuits. Your single breakers should be evenly divided, with roughly half on one side and half on the other. The double breakers are snapped over both busbars so their location is unimportant for 'balancing the loads.' Leave top two breaker spaces on 1 side empty for installing Type 2 surge protection device. Residential breaker box has 2 Hot busbars. Each busbar is 'out-of-phase' from the other busbar. Each busbar has 120 volt potential to Neutral (phase voltage) and 240 volt potential to the other busbar (line voltage). 240 volt breaker snaps over both Hot busbars, while single-pole breaker snaps over one Hot busbar. The breaker box should not be overloaded on one busbar, or one leg. Unbalanced load on power company transformer can unbalance the transformer and electricity might not have the correct waveform, causing damage to motors, electronics etc. Resource: How to wire voltage monitor Type 1-2-3 surge protectors What does out-of-phase mean Troubleshoot household electric See inside main breaker box Basic household wiring diagrams |
| Question:
Are both sides of the breaker 30 amp or one each one of them 15 amp ? Answer: Both are 30 amp You can make a 240 breaker by combining 2 single-pole breakers, but code requires a 'common bar' between the breakers so if one trips, then the other breaker also trips. AC power reverses the direction of electrons 60 times per second... and the voltage rises and falls as electrons come to a stop, reverse direction and accelerate the opposite direction... despite electrons stopping, and voltage dropping to zero 60 times per second, the average voltage is above zero. Each leg of a 240 volt circuit is out-of-phase with the other leg. This means each leg is delivering power to the load, and is independent of the other leg. Of course that is true because of how the power company generator works, and how single phase is delivered to home via the power company transformer. And so the electrons travel back and forth on the wire... and one leg has electrons going one direction when the other leg has electrons going the opposite direction. If you pull 2 Hot wires from the same busbar, the electrons on each wire are traveling same direction as each other, so you can not use these two wires to get 240 volt. You must use a wire from different busbars so the electrons are moving opposite directions from each other. Using power from both busbar increases total power. This is represented by the formula E = IR, or power (watts) = volts x amp. The formula shows if you change the voltage from single breaker 120 to double breaker 240, then the power (watts) goes up, assuming amps are the same. So 30 amp x 120 volt = 3600 watts, while 30 amp x 240 volt = 7200 watt, or twice the power (watt). How is that possible? ... the answer is that both breakers are 30 amp... because both carry electrons that are being 'pushed' and 'pulled' the opposite directions down the wire, like pedaling a bicycle with two legs instead of one. ... so yes... the answer is that both breakers are 30 amp. Resources: Figure volts amps watts Formulas for ohm's law What is electricity How a generator works Difference between single-phase and 3-phase Electricity from power plant to end user |
 Larger image Refer to chart above. 1500 watt element. 12.5 amp @ 120 volt or 6.3 amp @ 240 volt So the amp rating drops by 1/2 for same wattage load. This means that 240 volt breakers are designed to handle large appliances that cannot be supplied by 120 volt. To illustrate how much more power 240 volt supplies to an appliance, we use the 4500 watt element with a rating of 240 volt. When connected to 240 volts 30 amp double breaker, the element heats 16+ gallons per hour. When same rated element is connected to 120 volt, it heats 1/4 the amount of water per hour, and a smaller breaker can be used. |
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Resource: Intermatic control centers: and parts Digital control centers and parts Tork control centers and parts Subpanels All control centers and parts Enclosures |
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Resource: Programmable timers Countdown timers Off delay timers On delay timers Timer modules Din rail Twin & one-shot Woods Intermatic Tork |
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