Are these breakers ok to double tap ?

[Frank Magdefrau]

What do you think ? Is this OK ?

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

I would say "no."

You would have to check the listing to be sure, but I don't think T&B makes a breaker that is listed for two conductors.

[Bruce A. King]

No, the only ones I know of are Square D...

The wires do not come close to touching each other on these since each wire has its own groove.

[Frank Magdefrau]

Originally Posted by jpope

I would say "no."

You would have to check the listing to be sure, but I don't think T&B makes a breaker that is listed for two conductors.

Thanks for your help.

[Bruce A. King]

Looks like those are Type TB, the doc does not mention 2 wires.

They would advertise this if it were possible, so no mention of it means 1 wire only IMHO..


http://tnbelectricalworld.tnb.com/co...t_breakers.pdf

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by fmagdefrau

I am doing the report tonight. Can you confirm or should we just go with our gut feeling ?

If it's not listed on the breaker or in the panel box, I would call it improper.

[Frank Magdefrau]

They are 1 pole SR 100 breakers, HACR type

[Speedy Petey]

No, they are not listed for two wires.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by bking

No, the only ones I know of are Square D...

The wires do not come close to touching each other on these since each wire has its own groove.

Example:

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Originally Posted by bking

No, the only ones I know of are Square D...

Don't forget Eaton® ( CutlerHammer ) CH Brand Circuit Breakers ( 30A or less ), these are the ones with the TAN handles.

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Frank,

Got your message and left you a message.

1.) The violation is that yes, these breakers are NOT rated for more then a single conductor.....that is a technical violation and should be mentioned in the report...However..

2.) The more inportant aspect of this is to make sure the conductors going into the breaker are rated properly for the OCPD shown...in an example:

15A OCPD....and has (2) 14 AWG conductors going into it....technical violation YEP....100%.....is it a safety concern that I would BLARE out in a report....no....WHY???

Because the 15A breaker is well....protection (1) conductor or (2) in this case at the same 15A protection.......now as long as it is not being used to parallel anything.....I would call it out in the report and how it should be but dont flag it too high as a safety concern......because once you inspect it, tug and make sure the wires are tight in the terminals and not loose which it may be since the terminal is not designed for (2) conductors....and relay all your findings in your report....but I would not be too blazing on it IF this is the only problem in that panel.....

Now it could be an issue of the panel being undersized and so on....but that would take a calculation and if you only see a few of them understand that the NEC is very generous on the ampacity sizing of the service generally.

So recap.......Is it wrong...YEP.....that breaker is not designed to fit it....so it is a technical violation per NEC.....is it causing any harm to the conductors...no as long as they are sized properly to the OCPD.

Simple solution....remove the conductors, pigtail them to a conductor equal to the largest of the (2) and run the single conductor to the breaker.

If the panel looks overly cluttered, excessive double taps and so on do not feel bad at all in elevating to a service size evaluation from a licensed electrician.

So yes report the improper terminations.....just dont elevate it to a high safety concern, if other issues are in the house electrically then suggest it be looked at during the evaluation of other issues.

[Frank Magdefrau]

Thanks to everyone who helped with this.