Subpanel feeder using 6/2 romex

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ckelley3

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I was working on adding an new exhaust fan circuit to an existing residential 50A subpanel in a 3rd floor eave this past week and discovered that it was fed by 6/2 romex and the ground wire was being used for the neutral. Obviously, this is not code today, as we'd be required to use 6/3 with a ground and have an non-bonded neutral in the subpanel.

My question is, for some of you old timers, has this installation ever been code compliant? My thought is that the subpanel was possibly installed as a 120V panel and coverted to 240V (by some hack) when some baseboard heaters were added at a later date, but I doubt a 120V panel would be code compliant either. Any thoughts? I don't want to alarm the homeowner, but I think this needs to be fixed sometime soon.
 
I don't believe it was ever compliant and it may not have ever been a 120V panel. That would be a fix if the panel doesn't have 240V circuits.
 
I think that this would have been code compliant if the panel was originally, strictly, used for 240V loads with no need for neutral, Electric Heat and or A/C.
 
1793 said:
I think that this would have been code compliant if the panel was originally, strictly, used for 240V loads with no need for neutral, Electric Heat and or A/C.
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That's true, it could have been put in because they didn't have enough spaces when they added the base board heaters.

So your installation may be the one that's not compliant.
 
In regards to the property owner. Do not get involved with a discussion about the prior installer, it is a lose/lose situation.
Just explain to them the current installation is not permitted by code, it is a safety issue which could lead to shock-fire-death (you may want to leave out the shock-fire-death thing unless they ask you the safety issues ;)). I always have the code section(s) available in case they want to know them or you want to reinforce the issue.
 
I would agree never code compliant for use as 120/240 loads. I would recomend changing out.
 
cowboyjwc said:
That's true, it could have been put in because they didn't have enough spaces when they added the base board heaters.

So your installation may be the one that's not compliant.
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I have a 4 circuit panel on my Electric Furnace that only handles 240V loads. It is a 3 wire feed from a 125A 2pole in the main panel. Is this a violation?
 
Thanks

Thanks

Thanks to all for your input. The panel did have both 120 and 240 loads when I first approached it, so someone along the way has butchered it. I can see remnants of an old HVAC install up there, so maybe it was once used for strictly 240 loads and someone added some 120's sometime along the way. Anyway, I will recommend changing it out for a 120/240 install. Thanks for the input!
 
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