2 Pole gfci breakers

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codeunderstanding

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2 pole gfci breakers work on multiwire branch circuits right? Lets say that you have a hydromassage bath tub and you want to run a 12/3 romex for it one circuit for the motor and the other circuit for the instant heat. would this work on a 2 pole gfci breaker?
 

Dennis Alwon

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codeunderstanding said:
2 pole gfci breakers work on multiwire branch circuits right? Lets say that you have a hydromassage bath tub and you want to run a 12/3 romex for it one circuit for the motor and the other circuit for the instant heat. would this work on a 2 pole gfci breaker?
A dp GFCI will work on a MWBC but 2 sp GFCI will not.

Edit-- BTW I would not do that. I would run 2 separate runs.
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
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Right here.
It is sometimes more beneficial to run two seperate circuits, each with their own GFCI protection, or two point of use GFCI's on the end of your 3-wire where it splits to each receptacle. This makes troubleshooting easier. Lets you know what part you need to fix.
 

codeunderstanding

Senior Member
Dennis Alwon said:
A dp GFCI will work on a MWBC but 2 sp GFCI will not.

Edit-- BTW I would not do that. I would run 2 separate runs.


Dennis why wouldnt you do it this way? To be honest I wouldnt either but its a remodel and it would be alot easier this way to run one wire.
 

Dennis Alwon

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codeunderstanding said:
Dennis why wouldnt you do it this way? To be honest I wouldnt either but its a remodel and it would be alot easier this way to run one wire.

I wouldn't wire it that way because I never liked MWBC-- we wont get into that, but also for the same reason Marc has mentioned. One dp will trip if either unit has a problem and it is harder to troubleshoot. Plus the cost is over $100.00 for those breakers-- at least a DP 50 is not sure of DP 20amp.

Is you use a MWBC then do as Marc and Ron suggested. 3 wire and then split to 2 faceless GFCI's. or standard GFCI
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
iwire said:
Yeah but do you mean 12/4 or 12/2 -12/2?

What ever the application calls for, If you want a separate 120v and a 240v circuit then use 12-4 if you want two 120 volt circuts use 12-2-2...

This is a picture of of 14-2-2 and 12-2-2
romexextra2.jpg


12-4 or 14-4 would contain a blue instead of the extra white conductor...
 
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don_resqcapt19

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Illinois
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retired electrician
What do 2 pole gfci breakers have inside them that makes them not trip with the neutral im balance?
Nothing really different than what is found in single pole GFCI breakers. The only difference is that both hots and the neutral run through the current sensor. If there is no ground fault the current will sum to zero. When there is a ground fault, some of the current will not be flowing on the 3 conductors and if that missing current is 5 mA or more, the breaker will trip.
Don
 
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