In summary, each leg of a single, double (2 phase) or triple (3 phase) breaker is capable of allowing the amount of current denoted on the breaker. If you removed the tie and only one breaker tripped, there would still be 120 volts connected to the outlet.
This ensures that all power to the outlet is disconnected. Therefore, if the rated current, (100 amps), is exceeded on either breaker, that breaker will trip and the other breaker will trip via the mechanical tie. Each of these hot wires are connected to the two terminals of the two-pole breaker.ĭue to mechanical tolerances, one breaker will most likely trip before the other. The current flows out and back at the same 60 Hz but this time via the two hot wires (generally black and red). Because they are out of phase, the potential difference is twice the voltage of each line or 240 volts. In other words, as leg 1 is flowing "out", leg 2 is flowing "back". You are using two "legs" of 120 volts each that are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. In a 240 volt circuit, there is no neutral wire. Only the hot wire is connected to the breaker. The amperage in the hot and neutral wires are the same (in the perfect world). In a 120 volt circuit, it flows "out" toward the device via the hot (generally the black wire) and "back" via the neutral (generally the white wire). In AC current, electricity flows in both directions. So why are they tied together? That is done when the two-pole breaker is to be used to power a 240 volt circuit. If you then powered two, separate 120 volt devices from the two breakers, each breaker would allow 100 amperes to pass to each of the devices before tripping. In actuality, you always had two 100A breakers. To understand this, imagine that you remove the mechanical tie from the two-pole breaker. It does not matter if that breaker is physically tied to another 100A breaker.
The breaker will trip at the amperage notated on the breaker.
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