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HLuc · May 22, 2014, 09:10 AM

I have a 4 wire line (red, black, white and bare ground) coming from my panel. It is hooked up to a double 15A breaker. It has been used for my washing machine and my effluence pump. I have installed a new pump and washer and now have to move the line. The previous pump had a switch involved in the circuit but I do not need this now.

So my question is... Am I correct in my assumption that I can split the sockets by removing just the middle hot tab, put the red on top the top hot pole and the black on the bottom pole and then connect the ground and the neutral as usual.
Or do I need a separate neutral and ground for both sockets.

Thanks for you help!

ballengerb1 · May 22, 2014, 09:17 AM

You have to first determine if that red wire is part of a three way switch.

HLuc · May 22, 2014, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by ballengerb1

You have to first determine if that red wire is part of a three way switch.

Hi Thanks for your reply
The wire comes directly from the panel.

ballengerb1 · May 22, 2014, 09:25 AM

The red wire does? Where in the panel is it connected?

HLuc · May 22, 2014, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by ballengerb1

The red wire does? Where in the panel is it connected?

The red and the black are each coming from a separate 15 A breaker (this is a dual one where both 15A are connected together)

This was set up just for the washer and pump and does not connect to anything else.

Studs ad · May 22, 2014, 01:11 PM

It could be what we call in the trade a "multi-circuit". It is used by some as a way to save a little extra wire by not having to run two hots and two neutrals for separate circuits. There are some rules that apply to doing this. 1) the breakers must be on opposite phases in the panel. 2)they should be adjacent with a common handle that trips both breakers if one is tripped. 3)at the first place of use the whites must be tied together- not depending on the device for the connection. I imagine they decided they needed two circuits and this was the fix for it.

FYI. If two legs or of power of different potentials or phases share a common neutral, the neutral load only carries the difference between the loads of the hot legs, which allows the neutral to be common to both circuits without the worry of overloading the neutral. If you don't correctly install the breakers on opposite legs then the neutral current is additive and you can overload the neutral. The code requires the neutrals for each circuit be split at the first point of use and stay that way. They cannot be dependent on the device for this connection. The reason for this is if you disconnect the neutral that is common to both circuits, the circuits no longer have a neutral connection and the current flows from one leg through the other leg and can potentially put close to 240 volts on a 120 volt device, which would probably burn it up. I don't care for this method myself, but it does have its place and is legal in the code. I question that it will continue to be used in house wiring due to the nature of the increased requirements for GFCI and AFCI breakers needing the neutral for the hot at the breaker and the multi-circuit method only returns one neutral for two circuits.

hfcarson · May 23, 2014, 05:17 AM

"So my question is... Am I correct in my assumption that I can split the sockets by removing just the middle hot tab, put the red on top the top hot pole and the black on the bottom pole and then connect the ground and the neutral as usual."
Yes...

Or do I need a separate neutral and ground for both sockets."
No...

(in the interest of simple answers...)