Double taps explained (Breaker)

Double taps in your inspection report? Here is why.

[integrer]

The double lug rating is primarily because it has a pressure pad and not just a scew against the wire.

[lennythomas]

Son of a biscuit. Learn something new every day

[llvjqom]

I've been in the electrical trade almost 40 years and never knew SQD breakers were dual rated. I'm looking at one now rated #14-#8 with one conductor and #14-#10 with two conductors.

[tedlahm]

First time this has ever come up in discussion. thank you

[Sparky-wwre]

I've seen my share of double tapped breakers. Either because it was an older home and they needed to add one more circuit and the panel was full and didn't want to spend a bunch of money for a larger panel or a subpanel, or there was a issue with a breaker that caused arcing and damage to part of the bus making that slot unusable and they move that circuit onto another breaker instead of replacing the panel.

[moosepasshippie]

If you look closer you can see it is rated for 2 Copper conductors. It is only rated for 1 Aluminum conductor.

[Stan_in_Shelton_WA]

On many occasions I have seen inspector call out double tapped breakers claiming the wiring is not protected due to the double tap. They had no clue about over current protection. A double tap actually has the potential of being more protective of wiring.

[MOPAC]

Thank you. This is the exact info I was looking for on those Square D breakers.

[ocsrc]

I use a double breaker in one slot.
The invention of the single space 2 breaker is awesome.
You can literally double the number of breakers in a small panel

[OzarkMountainKing]

Wow, nice info here. When I bought a house a few years before, the panel was full of melted double taps, and it didn't pass inspection. Even though everything worked, the seller had to have it all changed. I didn't know double taps were ever up to code. I guess it just depends on using the right breaker

[TheFixer]

When you said "double- tap", I thought you were talking about breakers with two breakers in one. I had to educate a customer about these once. She had a family friend who wired her electric dryer and it wouldn't run. The ff had wired the circuit from a double breaker, thinking it was 220V. That dryer wasn't even getting 120.

[randyfitz]

Must state: Never exceed the rating of the conductor when selecting the breaker.

[zqpjjoj]

I love how people think that adding several outlets on a single breaker is "Over loading" it. The outlet has no load. You can install 100 outlets on one breaker and it will be 100% fine. It's what you plug into to outlets that will cause an overload. For example if you plug in a 1500 watt space heater into one outlet and then a 1200watt blow dryer into a second outlet on the same circuit breaker this will over load it and pop the breaker as this is more than a 15 amp(1875 watt) or 20 amp (2400 watt) breaker can take. how to get wattage for your devices is simple. Voltage multiplied by the current = Wattage. I.E 120Vac x 20amp = 2400 watts. And if you don't know the amps of a device but know the voltage and watts, you can do it that way too. 2400watts divide by 120 vac = 20 amps. Hope this clears up for some of you..:)

[ronblack]

square D also has half breakers where there are 2 independent breakers in the space of 1 . only down side is they are the same phase so can't be used with a common neutral.

[MWithSubs]

Never knew that thanks for the vid and new information.

[j.d.]

Proplem is if double lug found you never know unless you ring out both wires. Homeowners do some crazy add ons to existing circuits. Best to check.

[nickm]

Here in Florida at least the insurance company won't care, it's still technically a double tap, it just happens to be a legal double tap. Arguing with them is futile, they don't care if they are wrong. Insurance company will require it to be fixed (as simple as making a union in the panel with a pigtail and land the pigtail wire on the breaker and you are done). Load doesn't matter really as you can't know what the potential load will be, particularly on a circuit with outlet/s. That's what the breaker is for.

[stevenpersinger]

This is old news. The info is right on the breaker. If you didn't know this then start paying attention or you're fired jeez people

[tightwad]

A clamp meter will tell u how much load is drawing off each wire but i would. Use a circuit finder to identify the # of possible loads anyway.

[briancasey]

A double breaker is safer than single, it will trip way below the circuit threshold, breakers protect the wires, it might trip early, but that is safer