14/3 strange usage

ActionDave said:

It's called Single Wire Earth Return http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWER

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DonL said:

Earth is a good Ground if the voltage is high enough, and that proves it.

The Power Utility company is the only one allowed to use the earth as ground/neutral, as far as I know.

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BobL43 said:

Oh and Samuel Morse did too, right?

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BobL43 said:

I don't see any smiley faces Dave!

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ActionDave said:

I rarely smile. The last time I remember feeling one come upon my face was about eight years ago when I was informed of my mother-in-law passing.

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ActionDave said:

I rarely smile. The last time I remember feeling one come upon my face was about eight years ago when I was informed of my mother-in-law passing.

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ActionDave said:

It is called a Multi-wire Branch Circuit. Yes they are legal, common, and still used today.

You can, but knowing how and where in the circuit to hook them up is a bit tricky. How brave are you?

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Steve Jones said:

I've got another "questionable" use for 14/3 that I'd like an opinion on.. I wanted four outlets, each switched by a different switch, in close proximity... Rather than run four 14/2 wires, I ran two 14/3, and split the hot on each of two dupex outlets (broke the bridge on the side of the plug..) and used the red as the hot for one outlet, and the black for the other... All four plugs come back through a 4-gang box with four switches, and then all to the SAME 15 amp breaker.

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Steve Jones said:

I've got another "questionable" use for 14/3 that I'd like an opinion on.. I wanted four outlets, each switched by a different switch, in close proximity... Rather than run four 14/2 wires, I ran two 14/3, and split the hot on each of two dupex outlets (broke the bridge on the side of the plug..) and used the red as the hot for one outlet, and the black for the other... All four plugs come back through a 4-gang box with four switches, and then all to the SAME 15 amp breaker.

I can see that if I was to expect to get 15 amps out of each outlet, I'd obviously pop the breaker, but since these are all on the SAME 15 amp breaker, I think what I've done is safe and to code, since it's not logically any different than a 4-outlet power strip, except that I have switches on each outlet.

I hope this makes sense... Is there anything dangerous I'm missing here?
FWIW, the purpose of this was to plug in four arcade/pinball machines, which each probably take no more than 2-3 amps, but I wanted the switches all by the door to the room so I didn't have to fumble around for the individual power switches on the machines.

-Steve

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BobL43 said:

Those Colorado Winters didn't give you that cold heart did it? Just kidding (or am I?). I guess I was lucky, I had a great Mother In-Law. If everybody had a Mother In-law like I had, there'd be no mother in-law jokes. That'd be no fun though

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