Circuit Breaker connection

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Paul Bates

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NEC 240.21 says "Overcurrent protection shall be provided in _EACH_ungrounded circuit conductor at the supply". Does this mean one wire one breaker, even if the breakers terminal and plate is made to accept two wires such as a SQ D 20 amp breaker with two slots in the plate for the wire to lay under.
 
Paul Bates said:
NEC 240.21 says "Overcurrent protection shall be provided in _EACH_ungrounded circuit conductor at the supply". Does this mean one wire one breaker, even if the breakers terminal and plate is made to accept two wires such as a SQ D 20 amp breaker with two slots in the plate for the wire to lay under.
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No. if the breaker is listed for 2 wires then it is okay to have 2 wires under the screw. You don't need a breaker for each wire , you just need to have overcurrent protection on the wires. It is no different than one wire coming off the breaker and feeding 10 other wires in a JB. One breaker...
 
Paul Bates said:
NEC 240.21 says "Overcurrent protection shall be provided in _EACH_ungrounded circuit conductor at the supply".
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Over current protection is over current protection just that. As long as the equipment is listed for that purpose.
 
Paul Bates said:
NEC 240.21 says "Overcurrent protection shall be provided in _EACH_ungrounded circuit conductor at the supply". Does this mean one wire one breaker, even if the breakers terminal and plate is made to accept two wires such as a SQ D 20 amp breaker with two slots in the plate for the wire to lay under.
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No, 240.21 means that every ungrounded conductor requires OCP, not necessarily an individual one. The idea is to never have an unprotected hot wire.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
It is no different than one wire coming off the breaker and feeding 10 other wires in a JB. One breaker...
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Dennis,good point I never thought of it this way...
 
Dennis Alwon said:
No. if the breaker is listed for 2 wires then it is okay to have 2 wires under the screw. You don't need a breaker for each wire , you just need to have overcurrent protection on the wires. It is no different than one wire coming off the breaker and feeding 10 other wires in a JB. One breaker...
Click to expand...

The key word is CIRUIT conductor, not individual conductors. Careful wordsmithing on the part of NEC here. Kudos.....:wink:
 
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