Power cords to the same outlet

HI Sean. Can you help with what instrament/and the "how to" to check phase? I am doing maybe the unthinkable. I take a 3 wire 220 air conditioner circuit( 2 20 amp breakers joined in the box) black and white are both hot/the bare copper,being the neutral. A black and the bare copper being one outlet. The white and the same copper being another outlet.I have been doing this for 7/8years.-----But,how to tell;are they phase?

I tend to agree with Sean that - apart from separating digital from analogue - you are best to use a single outlet for all your components. This gives you a star earth with least resistance, provided you have a good earth from wall socket to ground. But the other posts above bring up points that are relevant too.

As Sean notes above there are potential problems to adding additional supply lines to your system, and is why I always advocate simulating a proposed additional line(s) setup for those who need/or want to try. There's even more potential problems with AGG's setup.

For starters it violates the National Electric Code which requires seperate a neutral (white) wire to the neutral side and seperate ground (usually bare or green) to the ground connection of a 115 volt outlet. The reason for this is to avoid the dangerous potential of a floating ground.

AGG, if your lines breaker is a double wide unit with a common lever, the two lines are most likely out of phase with each other. That's the normal way to get 230 volts in a common residential system. Don't even think of putting one of these lines on a different breaker (to create a common phase supply). You risk creating an extremely dangerous situation where 40 amps can travel thru a very undersized wire.

Like other posters to power related postings on this site: If you are not clear of the code requirements for a safe installation. Hire a licensed electrician for his knowledge.

I would like to thank all of you for your informative information. I did check all of the room outlets and they are all on one dedicated line, I think I will be ok, thanks again, John

There is a handy little device that Rat Shack sells under part number 22-101 and is called a "circuit tester". It looks like a standard three prong male power plug but has a little chart on top of it and three LED's sticking out of the back end. You simply plug it into the outlet and it will give you a readout via the LED's. Compare the color code of the LED's to the various combinations presented in the chart and that will tell you if your outlets are wired "normally". While it can also tell you whether or not you have a ground, it will not differentiate between a "good" or "poor" ground. Just that it is or isn't connected. Even though both outlets that i had mono-blocks plugged into checked out fine, they were on different breakers and it resulted in a very noticeable 60 Hz hum. In other words, this device is not a "cure all", it's simply a "quick & dirty" check to see if everything is BASICALLY okay. Sean
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