# Backfeeding Breakers



## drewdin (Nov 3, 2014)

I know its wrong but i wanted to see how bad it is?

I had a ton of work done to my house, unfortunately it took three electricians before i found a good one but none of them labeled the breakers.

yesterday I found that one breaker feeds the lights from one side and it returns back to another breaker on the other side.

Everything was and has been working but I wanted to know the ramifications if any?

I removed the breaker and pulled the wire out of the panel and into a junction box so I'm pretty sure I'm good now.

Thanks


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## nealtw (Nov 3, 2014)

That doesn't sound good. They both must have been on the same leg or you would have had 240 volts.


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## JoeD (Nov 3, 2014)

Since pulled the one wire and put it into a box you are fine now as long as the breaker doesn't start tripping. Most likely what happened is the two circuits come together somewhere in one box and got connected by mistake.
If you find the breaker tripping then you need to find the cross connect point and separate it. Then you can have two circuits again.


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## drewdin (Nov 4, 2014)

After tracing the wires, one was labeled upstairs and the other was labeled attic (Which is the same place), I am guessing that since I had multiple electricians they wired the same thing, I dont know how long they were connected, and it was the lights and sockets in all of the bedrooms on the second floor.

I did pull the wire as far back as I could before it went up into the wall and capped the end along with putting it into a metal box. I guess the plus is now I have an open breaker spot!


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## gottodo1 (Nov 4, 2014)

Were either of them english/british? I knew a guy who told a story of finding a ring circuit in Indiana, the hard way.


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## nealtw (Nov 4, 2014)

You should find the first box that it connected to and kill it there.


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## drewdin (Nov 5, 2014)

There's old school 1950 BX run into the wall that goes into the attic and a new romex cable run besides the chimney into the attic. The old BX is connected to the 3rd bedroom light and then it goes to the 2nd bedroom and then the frst bedroom where the light there is connected to the new romex wire.

I am going to remove the old BX cable from the 3rd bedroom light but its under 18" of cellulose blown in insulation. Its easier at this time to pull it from the panel than to dig through insulation.


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## gottodo1 (Nov 5, 2014)

Drewdin, don't be one of those guys  The previous owner of my house pulled those kinds of shenanigans and it was a ROYAL pain trying to figure out what he did and undid and redid. Come on buddy for the next guy just do it right or create a list of when you half *** it so the next guy knows. (I have one of those  lists myself)


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## drewdin (Nov 10, 2014)

I went up in the attic for over an hour digging through 18" of blow in insulation, the outcome is the same. I traced wires back and forth and gave up, between praying i found a stud to stand on and being on my hands and knees digging through insulation the next home owner can deal with it!

In a box, terminated and labeled next to the panel is where it will be


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## bud16415 (Nov 11, 2014)

I think I would have put an outlet there and gave the dead end wire a purpose. If I was worried about next owner maybe a sticker or sharpie saying feed from attic. 


Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair


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## drewdin (Nov 11, 2014)

not worried about the next guy, i wanted to remove the wire from its termination in the attic, i thought it went to one place but when i got up there and was digging around, i realized i had no idea where it was going up there.

I removed it from the panel and put it in a box there labeled. But it is a good idea to have it as an outlet!


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## nealtw (Nov 11, 2014)

Actually you could have split the 2 circuits at any outlet box that had wires in and out. Ya, little late for that suggestion.


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## drewdin (Nov 12, 2014)

another good idea but the circuit is mostly the lights and light switches on the second floor. I don't want to take down the light fixtures to try and find the extra wire. All good suggestions for next time, i appreciate it!


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## Eddie_T (Feb 16, 2015)

gottodo1 said:


> Were either of them english/british? I knew a guy who told a story of finding a ring circuit in Indiana, the hard way.



Technically you are not backfeeding a breaker. A ring fed circuit has less voltage drop at any point in the ring as it is fed from both ends. It would be dangerous if not clearly identified and marked (which seems like a long shot).


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## gottodo1 (Mar 9, 2015)

Eddie, I could have given more detail, that particular ring circuit was powered by 2, single,  15A breakers instead of the standard 30A breaker like the brits would have had. Atleast, that's how I understand it would have been done normally.


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