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I have a bank of 6 light switches all single pole that have 3 separate feeds going to them. 2 of the 3 feeds are tied together and are connected to 3 of the switches, requiring that I shut off 2 breakers to kill the power. Is this incorrect? Can I separate the 2 feeds and rewire the switches to be on the separate breakers?

Tester101
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Tim
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  • It sounds like wires downstream are at risk since you could pull way more amperage than the rating of either breaker without tripping them. That means the wires, switches and fixtures could be pushed beyond their capacity. It seems essential to correct the crossed circuits. – bib Jan 20 '15 at 22:44
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    As @bib mentioned, no it is not correct and should be fixed. But it is possible that the wiring fault might not be at the switches but at an outlet that should be half controlled by a switch (someone forgot to break of the tab when replacing an outlet). Clues that this might be the case, one breaker is lights and the other is normally outlets. Or you have a switch in the house that doesn't seem to do anything. – diceless Jan 20 '15 at 23:28
  • The 2 are on separate breakers or do you have a total of 2 breakers to turn off to kill all 3 feeds? – ChiefTwoPencils Jan 21 '15 at 02:26
  • I have 3 separate breakers 2 in one panel with a 3 wire (red, black & white) going to the switches, red feed is tied to the black wire feed from the 3rd circuit in the 2nd panel, one breaker in a additional panel. These two separate breaker feeds are hot to 3 switches. The black from the first circuit breaker (with the red) feeds the other 3 switches. – Tim Jan 21 '15 at 02:46

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