Electrical – How to fix double-tapped 14-3 cable to boiler

circuit breakerelectrical

I have an oil boiler for heat. 14-3 cable runs from the panel to a thermal cutoff above the boiler, then into the boiler's control box, and from there to a Taco controller that manages three zone thermostats and controllers for forced hot water heat.

At the panel, the 14-3 cable is presently double-tapped so that both the black and the red are attached to the same 15-amp breaker.

double-tapped 14-3 cable

I'm in the process of migrating the whole circuit to a subpanel so I can put the boiler on a transfer switch to a generator for backup power. I'm tempted to attach the red and black wires to 2 ganged 15-amp breakers, but I'm afraid because I don't understand the original intent of this wiring.

Best Answer

If that is the red and black from the same 14/3 cable it is anyone's guess why they did this. In any case they are using the same circuit on both wires, obviously. If there is no problem at this time just splice the two wires to a tail of the same gauge and put that one tail on the breaker. Those GE breakers are NOT made to accept two conductors, but it's also not the end of the world either. Since you are working on it is worth fixing.

IF you do feel that stongly that you want them on separate breakers you MUST use a 2-pole breaker, and NOT a tandem, or twin, breaker.