Wednesday, January 2, 2013

electric circuit breakers

The electric circuit breakers serving your home wiring circuits are intended for switching and protection of your home's wiring from high temperatures caused by excess current higher than the rating of the wire.

While thermal magnetic circuit breakers are the key element for overload and short circuit protection of your home electrical system, there are potentially dangerous conditions that do n...ot involve overcurrent.

The following circuit breakers should be utilized to provfurther protection with house wiring.

Single or 1-Pole Circuit Breakers



Single pole or 1-pole circuit breakers are most commonly use to protect our general use device circuits. These circuit breakers provide 120 volts to circuits that are typically used in our homes.
Listed below are the most commonly used 1-pole circuits:

Lighting

Outlets

2-Pole Circuit Breakers



Two-pole circuit breakers are used for larger home appliances and equipment. The 2-pole circuit breaker provides 240 volts to these larger electrical circuits. Below is a listing of where 2-pole 240 volt circuits are generally used:

Kitchen
Range or Oven

Laundry
Clothes Dryer

Garage or Work Shop
Air Compressor
Table Saw

Other Equipment:
Heating
Air Conditioning
Water Heaters

2-Pole Quad Circuit Breakers



Quad circuit breakers are available
with the following configurations:
Two 2-Pole 240 Volt Circuit
Four 1-Pole 120 Volt Circuits

Quad circuit breakers are ideal when panel space is limited and you need to add another 2-pole circuit. This solution provides two 2-pole circuits to be installed in the same location as one standard full size 2-pole circuit breaker. The Quad circuit breaker has pre-installed tie-bars that allow the two circuits to be operated independently of one another, while providing protection for each 240 volt circuit. As with the standard full size 2-pole 240 volt circuit breakers, the quad breaker could be used for larger home appliances circuits..
Below is a listing of where 2-pole 240 volt circuits are generally used:
Kitchen
Range or Oven
Laundry
Clothes Dryer
Garage or Work Shop
Air Compressor
Table Saw
Other Equipment:
Heating
Air Conditioning
Water Heaters

Four single circuits with single pole requirements can be installed on quad breakers that do not have tie-bars installed.
NOTE:
Three wire cables that are installed having two circuits and sharing the same neutral require the tie bars to be installed. Assigning each circuit to be placed on alternate busses is essential to prevent the neutral from becoming overloaded.

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