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I have several shared neutral circuits in my house (built in CT approx 1980) that do not have ties between the breakers to ensure that both are turned off together. I'm not 100% positive that they are all adjacent (it would take some time to determine exactly which circuits are set up this way). I assume this was to code when it was built and inspected, but I understand current code requires tieing the breakers together.

My question is whether I should go to the effort and/or expense to retrofit tied breakers.

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If... you ever decide to replace an outlet, and you turn off the breaker that controls that outlet, and you remove the white & black wires from that outlet... but the other paired breaker is not turned off, and whatever that breaker powers is drawing power... then the white wire in your hand is going to be live, and it will flat plumb shock you. Even with your breaker turned off.

If anyone else for any reason replaces an outlet and "does everything right" by turning off the breaker first, then they will get the blazes shocked out of them by that white neutral wire. That "anyone else" may be your best friend, or may be the next owner of the house who's got a pacemaker to keep their heart going. Your complacency here could result in someone's death.

It's not like anyone's suggesting a project costing many thousands of dollars or requiring months of work. A two-pole breaker costs about $10US and takes about five minutes to replace. If you need to shuffle all the wires around that breaker box, the whole job may take you two hours.

It's worth doing.

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  • Sorry TD, this is not exactly correct. This is only true IF the original installation was not done to code. If a multi-wire branch circuit neutral is spliced where both circuits are being feed-thru the neutral MUST be spliced and pigtailed. The device CANNOT be used to carry the neutral through. Once the circuit is split into two separate 2-wire circuits then the neutral can be fed through the receptacle. From then on there is no fear of shock since the neutral is only carrying the current of that one hot wire. This is why 2-pole or tied breakers were NOT code required until recently. Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 11:41
  • @SpeedyPetey - good point - that is a possibility we can't wisely discount. Can any of us count on that being true, though? I don't feel comfortable hanging anyone else's life on the unproven assumption that it is. Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 12:26
  • @SpeedyPetey It's possible that the wire nut for the neutrals wasn't installed correctly, to the point that the one that goes back to the breaker box falls out. At that point you have exactly the situation described above. Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 14:55
  • Yes @Brad, and they could have used #14 on a 50A breaker and put 67 recessed lights on a 15A circuit. Sure, ANYTHING is possible. The "what if" scenarios could go on forever. The question was SHOULD he change all the breakers, and I said not unless it make him more comfortable. According to the philosophies of some we should all go around and bring existing older homes up to each new code standard as they are invented. I'll reiterate, TD's scenario above is only true IF the original installation was done incorrectly and not to code. Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 15:02
  • @SpeedyPetey Except that this one is an easy fix most of the time. I accept that there is a tradeoff to be made. For example when I rewired my sister's kitchen I could have ran a new cable for the lights as well, especially since it has pre-romex hemp wrapped cable without a ground. Instead I left it the way it was. It also still goes to the original fuse-box, which all of the lights are still wired to. I have worked in places where there is no electrical inspection for anything but new construction, So I don't trust wiring until I have seen it myself. Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 15:40
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No, not unless it will make you feel that much better or safer working on them.

I would however go through the trouble of assuring that they are on opposite poles of the panel. Simply rearranging them to be next to each other (ie: one above the other) is fine. You can even mark the panel as to which are shared neutral pairs.

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