Posted by John T on March 29, 2011 at 06:59:30 from (98.108.23.192):
In Reply to: Electrical Question posted by IaGary on March 29, 2011 at 06:32:09:
Okay heres the deal: If you run a "branch circuit" out of a panelboard it should have its own black hot phase wire (protected by a circuit breaker), its own white Neutral (a grounDED conductor) plus a green/bare safety equipment ground. The Neutral is the return current conductor and is sized (ampacity) same as the hot phase conductor since its probably returning the same amount of amps.
IF YOU SHARE A NEUTRAL WITH TWO DIFFERENT BRANCH CIRCUITS THAT HAPPEN TO BE FED OFF THE SAME PHASE (Like L1 or L2) YOU CAN OVERLOAD THE WIRES AMPACITY RATING do not do that !!!!!!!!!!!!
For each branch circuit Id run a hot phase conductor and a Neutral AND NOTTTTTTTT USE A COMMON NEUTRAL FOR TWO DIFFERENT BRANCH CIRCUITS as you could overload the Neutral (if two circuits served by a single Neutral are on the same phase)
THAT BEING SAID There is such an NEC permissible thing called a "multi wire branch circuit" where a single common Neutral can indeed be used to serve as the return current conductor for two different phases BUT THAT IS NOTTTTTTTT A GOOD THING FOR LAY PERSONS TO MESS WITH AND NOT TO BE USED FOR HEAVY INDUCTIVE LOADS......
Soooooooo if I specified branch circuits out of a panelboard and ESPECIALLY for home shop use by lay persons I would insist each branch circuit have its own Neutral and would NEVER use any multi wire branch circuits (where single common Neutral serves two circuits)
NOTE I am long retired as an electrical distribution design engineer but can still safely say multi wire shared Neutral circuits should NOT be used for home shop type circuits. If theres 5 branch circuits Id have 5 hots and 5 Neutrals IM NOT SAYING IT CANT STILL WORK IM JUST SAYING IF YOU RUN A SINGLE COMMON NEUTRAL ON TWO CIRCUITS THAT HAPPEN TO BE ON THE SAME PHASE YOU CAN EASILY EXCEED THE WIRES AMPACITY.
If its a true multi wire branch circuit where each opposite phase carried say 16 amps the net Neutral current would be ZERO BUT YOU HAVE TO BE SURE THE NEUTRAL FEEDS TWO OPPOSITE PHASES
If I missed anything I hope the other gents can add to this but I would still run a Neutral for each branch circuit i.e. 5 branch circuits = 5 Neutrals (NO sharing).. Of course, 14 gauge wire is okay for a 15 amp branch circuit and 12 gauge for a 20 amp
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