ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Conserving wire?

My question is to the guy's who use 3 conductor wire for a home run to say a bathroom or a kitchen. Are you putting say a receptical circuit on one hot (red) and lighting circuit on the other hot (black) and then sharing the neutral. Did I understand you to use this as a homerun. I only ask because I have not done it like that. But I've never checked the per/ft cost of 50' of 14/3 vs 100' of 14/2. MMMMMMMMMMM might be a cost savings hiding there.

Bert, you could run a 12/3 for a dishwasher and disposal, two ct circuits, ref and micro etc. I don't know if there is a noticeble cost savings in wire but I do know you would only run half the cables back to the panel. That could add up to a labor savings.

Thanks, Scott for getting back on track
As far as multi-wire ckts saving wire, around here, 3-conductor NM cable typically costs about twice as much as 2 conductor(go figure!), so the savings realized are mostly labor costs.
As far as the original question, I believe that there is an illusion of less wire used by that method but I believe that is all it is.

PROGUY.....to answer your question, they DO make 2 pole Arc Faults for 3 wire and shared neutral circuits. I use em all the time!

IMHO you do save wire and labor by going to the closest outlet with the HR. Also I like to try and wire in a way that I think would make the most sense to most electricians when troubleshooting. I do use multi-wire branch circuits when it makes sense to me but I am not real keen on using alot of them since I have seen too many that were not balanced on seperate legs. Breakers can get switched in the panel (to the same leg), after I'm done, by someone who does not know better. Also it seems like there is less possibility of power quality issues when running 2 wire home runs.
Any thoughts/comments on PQ with multi-wire branch circuits?