Subject: From: Date:

RE: [ECS] Phase Coupler gbailey Sat, 13 Feb 1999 00:00:56 -0700

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Um, not quite, not quite and probably :-)

15Amp paired breakers are very common. Every kitchen counter top plug is a
pair for example (required by code), baseboard heaters use them, etc.

You actually can't help BUT mix them on the circuits. Coming into your house
are three wires. Two lines and a neutral. Line to line is 220V. Line 1 to
neutral is 110V. Line 2 to neutral is 110V. These are the ONLY ways you can
hook things up to those 3 wires. The idea of a phase coupler is to pass
signals from Line 1 to Line 2 and vice versa without shorting the two
together (a 220V isolation problem!).
A breaker is required on EACH side of the phase coupler since any time you
connect to either Line, code says you must provide a fusible disconnect of
some sort. That means both side must be breakered (or fused). It may depend
on local codes to decide if a double breaker is required or two singles will
suffice. Technically I know of no reason to use one setup over the other.

Most things that are 220V are that way since they consume much power. by
using 220 instead of 110, the current required (and thus the size of the
wire) is kept lower. Which by deduction makes the device a fairly high
consumption device. So in most cases this is true.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ingo Pakleppa [mailto:ipakleppa@home.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 1999 11:04 PM
To: ecs-list@netbloc.com
Cc: ecs-list@netbloc.com
Subject: Re: [ECS] Phase Coupler


Yes, that will work, but is against the NEC, as far as I know.

Part of the reason may be that you will rarely find paired 15Amp breakers
(I think that most 220V devices need more amperage), and you should
probably also not mix 220V devices with 110V devices on the same circuit.
In fact, I expect that most (all?) 220V devices will require dedicated
circuits.

Ingo

At 06:55 PM 2/11/99 -0500, herronf@us.ibm.com wrote:
>
>
>I have installed several phase couplers and whole house surge suppressors
>over the years in the main line Circuit Breaker box.  Why would I need two
>seperate 15 amp CBs?  I usually verify with a meter that I have 220 across
>the two 15amp breakers I am intending to use, pop em out and attach there.

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