# 12-2-2 wire use ?



## oleguy74 (Aug 23, 2010)

if you use 12-2-2 you will have 2 hot and two neutrals.red wire neutral has a red stripe.the one for the black is just white.and they don't need a two pole brkr.beacause each has its own neutral.should not be any issues.


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## clashley (Nov 24, 2009)

ericm215 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I read through all of the posts and replies to this thread and I would like to know if I were to use a 12/2/2 romex wires to supply 4 individual circuits to my second floor would I still need to use a double pole breaker? Are there other special considerations that I need to follow when using 12/2/2 for barch circuits? I need to run 4 new circuits to second floor and I wanted to save some time running only 2 12/2/2 cables instead of 4 12/2 cables. Is this approach acceptable by the code? I will be using the circuits for the following: 1 dedicated for the bathroom, 1 dedicated for an attic fan, 1 for lighting 2 bedrooms, and 1 spare for future use. Thanks,


As long the neutrals are not shared between the circuits (only bonded to the neutral bus in the panel), you do not need to use a double-pole breaker with 12/2/2. You will need to keep an eye on junction box capacity, however, since the number of conductors will increase.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between 12-4 and 12-2-2. 12-4 contains black, red, white and blue and is intended for 3-phase application, while 12-2-2 contains red, black, white and white/red stripe. You need to use 12-2-2, as the neutral must be coded white.


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## kbsparky (Sep 11, 2008)

clashley said:


> .... Keep in mind that there is a difference between 12-4 and 12-2-2. 12-4 contains black, red, white and blue and is intended for 3-phase application, while 12-2-2 contains red, black, white and white/red stripe.....


While 12-4 and 14-4 may be used on 3 phase circuits, we routinely use it for single phase circuits, such as carrying a hot, neutral, and 2 travelers on 3-way switching schemes. Or multiple switch legs for things like heat/fan/light units in bathrooms, etc. Having that extra blue conductor in there is really helpful in many instances.

I would also use it for 2 circuits on a single homerun where one circuit would feed the electric heat (240V red-blue), and the other one would pick up the receptacle outlets in the same room (120 AFCI protected black-white).


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## ericm215 (May 16, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the great advice!!!


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