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rudy2262 · Jun 7, 2011, 11:07 AM

Good afternoon,

I'm new here and ill start with this question, but try to give a little backround first. Because I am a bit baffled. I bought my home a few years ago, and the home inspection went off without a hitch, and never had any circuit breakers tripped. As time went on and I read more about home improvement I got curious... so I went to my electrical panel. The panel was labeled... but all incorrectly.

So I took a few hours to see what breaker went to which fixtures. I found that I have a double pole 20 amp circuit breaker that feeds my living room Air Conditioner. That's how it was labeled on my panel. However, I find out that my upstairs outlets (about 9, plus 2 lighting fixtures) are on the same double breaker. To make things worse. My bathroom is also wired to the same double pole breaker. Now I know the bathroom should be on its on dediucated circuit and I'm taking steps to correct that. But what about those other 9 outlets upstairs? Can those stay on the same double pole breaker as the AC?

Thank you
Brian

tkrussell · Jun 7, 2011, 11:11 AM

No, the 120 volt outlets should not be connected to a 240 volt 2 pole breaker and sharing it with an AC. Even thou it seems there is no apparent problem with tripping.

donf · Jun 7, 2011, 11:17 AM

Rudy,

Hang on a moment before you start rewiring the world for no reason.

What you may actually have is a "MWBC", Multi-wire Branch Circuit", not a 240 volt circuit.

A MWBC makes use of a Shared Neutral. Two hot conductor share the same return (neutral) conductor.

You need be a bit more circumspect before you tear into your wiring.

If you are real interested, there is a book named Residential Wiring, by Ray C. Mullin that is very well written.

Before you purchase any book, though, check with your local electrical inspectors to find out what level of NEC code is used in your area.

You also need to verify that your A/C actually have a 240 VAC connection for the A/C.

Missouri Bound · Jun 8, 2011, 12:44 PM

Rudy. Do you have conduit w/individual wires or is cable used for the runs? And as donf told you, you need to verify if indeed you have a 240v outlet for the ac. If so, you should do some re-wiring, since tapping off a 240v outlet to create 120v circuits isn't allowed... while mwbc's are allowed.