Twisted Grounds

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Funwiring

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A pretty common practice where I live is to twist the grounds that pass thru a jbox say for a receptacle or 2 gang box with two switches. I see the grounds twisted together for say 1.5 inches or so, tight twists, then cut off the grounds and leave one or two long to connect to the switches or the receptacle. Is that acceptable by code?
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Funwiring said:
I see the grounds twisted together for say 1.5 inches or so, tight twists, then cut off the grounds and leave one or two long to connect to the switches or the receptacle. Is that acceptable by code?

No, not without some sort of additional connector.
 

Brady Electric

Senior Member
Location
Asheville, N. C.
Twisted Grounds

I personally use stacons or crimp connectors then leave one or two long what ever I need to connect to box or SW or rec. After crimping the sta-con I twist them together. If I just need to make up grounds with no pigtail I use a wire nut and turn it until the wires twist. I have never been turned down. I like to make all my joints good and tight. Caution if you do use sta-cons you need to make sure they are crimped properly with a sta-con tool. Nothing like a good made connection to ensure no call backs. Semper Fi. P.S. Hope you understand what I said about making the joint.
 

Dennis Alwon

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Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
JohnJ0906 said:
How about 300.14 - Length of Free Conductors at Outlets, Junctions, and Switch Points.

John I think the op means the wires are twisted for 1.5" not that the wire is cut off at 1.5". I hope that is what he meant.
 

infinity

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Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
I've seen this quite often and was wondering how an electrician wouldn't know that a connector of some sort is required.:confused:
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
That was allowed in Naples FL 25 years ago.We had just finshed doing 1 of 2 buildings,in first it passed but following week second building was failed for no wirenuts or crimps.Somehow i suspect where the OP is located that many violations are simply never caught
 

dwellselectric

Inactive, Email Never Verified
Sorry everyone I didn't type that correct I dont just mean the grounds I mean all the wires may it be blacks, whites, whatever he never twists them together before putting them under the wirenut he just puts them under the wirenut
 

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
dSilanskas said:
Sorry everyone I didn't type that correct I dont just mean the grounds I mean all the wires may it be blacks, whites, whatever he never twists them together before putting them under the wirenut he just puts them under the wirenut

Thats legal but poor idea
 

Funwiring

Member
Thanks, Guys for the feedback. I figured what I was seeing was not right. Our town does not have an inspection requirement and does not require licensed electricians to do electrical work. Wanted to reinforce what I read in the code many years back. Time to study up on my new code book now I plan on doing more wiring. Have a great weekend.
 

tallguy

Senior Member
Funwiring said:
A pretty common practice where I live is to twist the grounds that pass thru a jbox say for a receptacle or 2 gang box with two switches. I see the grounds twisted together for say 1.5 inches or so, tight twists, then cut off the grounds and leave one or two long to connect to the switches or the receptacle. Is that acceptable by code?

As iwire and others noted --- this is definitely not kosher.

To use this approach properly, use a green wire nut to basically "cap" those cut off grounds:
elrcxc47a.jpg


Personally, I find this method ungainly -- plus the greenies are more expensive than regular wire nuts.

I'll use a pigtail if necessary, but prefer to just leave one ground wire long (12" or so), wrap it around the ground screw of the box and/or device and then terminate it with the rest of the grounds using a std wire nut.
 

DIRT27

Member
Location
Ca
Funwiring said:
A pretty common practice where I live is to twist the grounds that pass thru a jbox say for a receptacle or 2 gang box with two switches. I see the grounds twisted together for say 1.5 inches or so, tight twists, then cut off the grounds and leave one or two long to connect to the switches or the receptacle. Is that acceptable by code?

I have done the same but with a crimp connector. Have never had a problem. In commercial I always bond the box with a wrap from a wire comming in and pig tail to my devices. I see people wrap devices with a long wire but I just don't like it and can make it cleaner with pig tails. Just twisting the wires and not have some kind of connector ie: wire nut crimp connector is just asking for trouble IMO.

I agree with Tallguy the green wire nuts are a waste of money.
 
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macmikeman

Senior Member
Jim W in Tampa said:
That was allowed in Naples FL 25 years ago.We had just finshed doing 1 of 2 buildings,in first it passed but following week second building was failed for no wirenuts or crimps.Somehow i suspect where the OP is located that many violations are simply never caught

Hmmm. 30 years ago in Naples, they insisted on 4 point crimp tool on the barrel crimps on grounds. I remember that clearly, cause we had to break that crimper out every time we went south of Bonita. Up north in Lee a simple stakon single point crimp was ok.
 

tallguy

Senior Member
Jim W in Tampa said:
I see far toomany wires come loose from not pretwisting but legally you need not do it.Nothing like job security

I'm guessing this is a topic like which way receptacles should be oriented (the right way, BTW) :grin:

I don't pretwist insulated conductors simply because I can't seem to get it such that the stripped ends are even. I've always got some left with copper sticking out the end of the nut. Besides, if the nut is twisted properly, the wires will be wrapped around one another anyway -- just as when pretwisting.

Since the insulation isn't an issue on EGCs, I do pretwist those and then snip the tips at a diagonal before nutting it. Easier on the hands that way.

Maybe I should get an Ideal "Wire Connector Wrench"?
 
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