They are normally installed in situations where the breaker box is already full with no available slots for. Unlike a double pole breaker which serves a single 240 volt circuit a cheater serves two 120 volt circuits.
Residual Current Device Wikipedia
Can i use half of a double pole breaker. A double pole breaker is a circuit breaker that allows two poles in your circuit breaker panel to feed one circuit as in a 240vac air conditioner or electric stove. The 2 pole breaker in your picture is labeled 120240 v that means the breaker is approved for 240 v phase to phase loads and 120 v phase to neutral loads. A different type of doubled up breaker is a quad breaker which serves two 240 volt circuits but is the same width as a standard double pole breaker. A 2 pole breaker that is labeled as 240 v is only permitted on 240 v systems also known as corner grounded delta where a phase is intentionally grounded. Installing a double pole 50 amp breaker is normally a job for an electrician but a competent homeowner can do it. 1 person found this helpful.
A special kind of circuit breaker is the tandem breaker which is designed to allow two 120 volt circuits to be fit into a single slot in the circuit breaker box. Either run a 4 wire 240v supply or use a single pole breaker. It cannot be used to supply 240 volts to a single circuit. Circuit breakers come in several styles including the standard single pole breakers that serve 120 volt household circuits and double pole breakers that take up two slots in a breaker box and serve 240 volt appliances. A single pole load would send all the load on one half of this circuit breaker. The breaker must be able to trip before the wires connected to it can become damaged.
A 2 pole breaker only loaded on one half is likely to have too much mechanical resistance to do that. If the panel is almost full and you have to move a breaker to make space for the double pole one dont forget to balance the load between the two hot buses for safety and efficiency.
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