# Question on neutral sharing



## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Bring in a j-man electrician. You're dealing with a hair-ball. 

Your position is to REPAIR and maintain not engage in electrical reconstruction of an antique build.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Welcome aboard @Jpasco!

I'm sure you are very concerned with all of this and while I think you should bring it up to your supervisor 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.

If it was going to blow it would have happened a long while back. 

Love to know what place this is because i recall a SUNY dorm building I did some alarm work in that had some "in home fixes" by former maintenance staffing.

Enjoy your ride here bro!


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## Jpasco (Aug 13, 2019)

ha....this work was supposedly done by a contract electrician in the 80s.....out of a nearby IBEW local. ...there are many cob artist around including long time j...men....ive worked with a few over 20 years. knowing how to fix it isn’t really my question, my question is it a code violation if so which section did you find it in and is it important enough to fix while i am already removing every single light anyway....


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## Spark Master (Jul 3, 2012)

The neutral must be run in the same conduit, or path as the hots.

I have seen 1 where someone ran the neutral in a separate EMT from the phase conductors. I'm sure it's still there... and working.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

telsa said:


> Bring in a j-man electrician. You're dealing with a hair-ball.
> 
> Your position is to REPAIR and maintain not engage in electrical reconstruction of an antique build.


You have never worked as a maintenance electrician in the south. We do it all down here.
Run conduit. Pull wire. Wire new additions along with the equipment and the processes. And the occasional plugged up toilet.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

You need to sketch the wiring diagram and post it.

It was common for 1 neutral to be used by 2 different breakers on lights as some are switched while others stay on all the time. Back in the 80's it wouldn't have been a problem to have the breakers in 2 different sub panels (or split buss) especially as one is technically a transfer switch panel (all neutrals would have been joined before the meter).

Unless you understand how it was done and the thought behind it (how did they size the neutrals) then you could make a real mess thinking you are doing a upgrade. 

With LED lights and a good plan theirs probably no need to worry about load shedding some of the light.


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