In a mobile home the other day I saw a tandem breaker (20A/30A)where the 20A outside Breakers that are connected by a handle tie were feeding 2 separate 120V circuits(not multiwire).I removed the handle tie so that if 1 circuit trips the other won't. Did I do the right thing? These breakers are designed for 2 separate 240V loads.

gserve,

If the breaker says common trip they'll both trip with or without the handle.

This is from a Siemens Catalog showing 2 different types:



Personally, I don't think one of the outside breakers would trip the other unless they were common trip.

Bill

Bill, These are not common trip it says so on the breaker it is a Cutler-Hammer type BR breaker.

If the circuits are unrelated I don't see anything wrong with removing the handle.

Bill

Bill:

Is the breaker designed such that the handle can be removed with out changing the UL listing (in other words, is the equipment being modified by removing the handle)?

TG: I think that perhaps 110.3(B) has been violated, but I would never dream of red-tagging it. It is my understanding that breakers are required to be "atoumatic trip", meaning that they will open the circuit regardless of the handles position. With that in mind, I see no problem removing handle ties.

You do have a valid point, however.

Ryan:
Yes, it may be a "technical" violation for removing the handle tie, and yes, I would not red-tag it either, unless the cb was installed in violation of the panel "label"

Basically this type of cb is 'used' to add additional circuit capacity to a panel, and if it's a 16 circuit panel, this baby wouldn't fly.

John

If you remove the handle the breaker is no longer "listed" and becomes a violation!

[This message has been edited by Inspector Grump (edited 11-25-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Inspector Grump (edited 11-26-2003).]