Quote:
Originally Posted by wdfifteen
I worked on a lot of systems wired like that back in the day, though they were all fused. I don't think I ever saw one with breakers wired that way. The usual failure mode was the heating elements, which used both circuits to get 220, would overheat and sag until they touched the housing. They would short out and blow one of the fuses. The motor, which was powered by one of the 110 circuits, would keep running. It would turn the drum all day, but no heat. I cannot explain why it would usually blow the fuse that was NOT powering the motor, but it seemed to do that more often than not.
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Because they weren't handle tied. Any double pole breaker must be tied, I don't care how old the system is.
RE: rewiring, only that which is actually touched in order to repair/upgrade has to meet present day code. But you might want to do some basic upgrades.