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I have an old house, ca 1928.

A lot of the wiring is old. A lot has been replaced over the years.

I'm not an electrician but I am very comfortable doing wiring. But I don't have the experience of an electrician to be able to answer what's up with this particular wiring.

Into my breaker box, one of the sets of wires is a large, multi-wire, metal-sheathed cable.

This cable has 3 Red, 3 Black, and 3 White wires.

This is 14 gauge wire.

2 of the Red are not in use -- they are each coiled and capped with wire nut.

The remaining "hot" wires -- three Black and one Red -- are set into 15 Amp breakers.

The whites all go to the common return.

Is this typical? Using a huge, multi-wire cable, to feed the rest of the house?

I'm not sure why there aren't 4 white returns. Or, rather, an equal number of hot wires and return wires. Is that also normal? (It's possible I mis-counted, though, the wires are a mess)

Should I treat this bundle any differently than any other wiring?

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    Can you post photos of where this wire bundle enters the breaker box? This could be one of several things, and we won't be able to figure it out without photos Aug 10, 2020 at 1:01
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    Could be 3 MWBC, with 2 red since retired. But if that's the case it would be important to know which white goes with which black/red. Aug 10, 2020 at 1:12
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    I agree with manassehkatz they were probably set up as multiwire branch circuits and today the red black pairs need to be on a handle tied pair or a single handle double pole, it’s not the white we worry about here it is the red black combo to a breaker each multiwire will have a white once those break out or go different directions you cannot mix the neutrals 1 red 1 black on a breaker to 1 white. Depending on the year rewired your panel may not have double pole breakers or handle ties this has been code for decades but may not have been required when your updates were done.
    – Ed Beal
    Aug 10, 2020 at 1:31

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