Good morning. What could be the reason for wiring this 40-amp double-pole breaker this way?
I’ve seen that before on this forum, but can’t recall why!
There is no reason to ever do that. It is dangerous.
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My guess is the breaker is back-feeding the panel, otherwise it couldn’t be turned on.
This is providing 120V to this sub panel with each bus on the same phase.
No matter how you slice it, it’s wrong.
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Was there a generator? I suspect to have power on both legs in the panel; regardless its not proper.
It is not right!
I agree with Jeff that’s the likely scenario. Some photo’s of the entire panel would likely confirm this.
Thanks for all the input.
Back-feeding makes the most sense.
The wiring was for an indoor generator (portable battery power station). The indoor generator was not on site at the time of the inspection.
The wiring originates at a 40-amp double-pole breaker in the service panel. The black and red conductors run from this breaker in the service panel to an Automatic Transfer Relay Switch. However, the guts of the transfer switch have been removed. The “transfer switch” was essentially a junction box and had no other function. The black and red conductors enter the “junction box” and, for a reason unknown to me, the red conductor was capped with a wire nut. The black conductor exits the “junction box” and continues to another panel and terminates at the breaker seen in the OP. In the end, there is a lot more than just the wiring of this double-pole breaker that is wrong with the electrical system so it’s an easy call to have an electrician get involved.
Thanks again for all the responses. They’re a big help.
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