Double pole breaker to single pole breakers
#1
01-20-17, 06:44 AM
Double pole breaker to single pole breakers
Main CB panel has a double pole breaker feeding a 12/3 wire with ground to a 240V wall mounted heater. My plan is to remove the heater and replace the double pole breaker with two 20 amp single pole breakers. One of the replacement breakers will be for future use and the other will be used to feed a 120v receptacle in my laundry room using the 12/3 wire. Once I have detached the wire from the double pole breaker and wired the single pole breaker is it proper and safe to wire nut/tape the unused red wire both in the CB panel and the 120V receptacle?
#3
01-20-17, 09:39 AM
Note that if you decide to use the red wire again you'll have to return to the double-pole breaker. You cannot use two single-pole breakers for a multiwire branch circuit. Capping off the red is OK for single pole use.
#5
01-21-17, 07:33 AM
I would leave the double breaker and its connection to the existing 12/3 cable intact and unchanged.
The "20 amp laundry room" circuit may serve nothing else besides receptacles in the laundry area. The red wire would come in handy for lights and/or receptacles just outside the laundry area.
Even though it shares the neutral with the laundry circuit, it can be a legitimate separate 120 volt circuit.
The "20 amp laundry room" circuit may serve nothing else besides receptacles in the laundry area. The red wire would come in handy for lights and/or receptacles just outside the laundry area.
Even though it shares the neutral with the laundry circuit, it can be a legitimate separate 120 volt circuit.
