single circuit wired from one pole of appliance breaker OK?

[Frank L. Bartlo]

In today's inspection I came across this: a single 15A circuit wired from one terminal of a dual 15A appliance type circuit breaker. See top right of pic.

This seems like it will work OK, but I just want to make sure.

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

It will work and trip accordingly. Just someone lazy was working in the panel that didn't bother replacing the 2-pole with two singles or (even easier) pulling off the handle-tie. It's also probable that if it's a newer install, they thought there was going to be a multi-wire branch circuit and they were hooking it up to the 2-pole breaker.

Jeff

[Robert Meier]

Originally Posted by jwicklander

It will work and trip accordingly. Just someone lazy was working in the panel that didn't bother replacing the 2-pole with two singles or (even easier) pulling off the handle-tie. It's also probable that if it's a newer install, they thought there was going to be a multi-wire branch circuit and they were hooking it up to the 2-pole breaker.

Jeff

The two pole CB is fine as Jeff stated. Pulling off the handle tie wouldn't help since 2 pole CB's are constructed with an internal trip mechanism.

[Frank L. Bartlo]

Thanks, Jeff and Robert. They were probably planning on having another circuit sharing the neutral, as I did notice lots of 3-conductor wires with the red wires unconnected. The house was pretty well tricked out with a lot of complicated features ... took longer to inspect per square foot than any house I've ever done that was so well maintained,

[Jim Port]

Frank,

Instead of terminology like this "appliance type circuit breaker." the correct term would be a double or two pole breaker.

An appliance can be supplied from either a single or double pole breaker. It would depend on the voltage as to whether the single or double pole were used.

[Frank L. Bartlo]

Yeah, I'm more careful with the wording in my reports, and do my best to keep terminology simple so lay people can most easily understand what I'm saying. I didn't even make a mention of this one in my report, not being a functional issue.