kbsparky
Senior Member
- Location
- Delmarva, USA
In October's EC&M magazine, Mike had the following question published:
Q. an electrician installed a two-wire 20 A receptacle circuit (12 AWG) with six 15A, 125V duplex receptacles. He wired the receptacles as feed through (daisy chain) using the four screws on each device. The inspector would not accept the installation and said that he had to splice the wires and leave a pigtail, which then connected to only two screws of the receptacle. Is this an NEC requirement?
The answer given was:
A.No. Only the grounded conductor of a multiwire branch circuit is required to be pigtailed [300.13(B)]. Even on a multiwire circuit, the ungrounded conductors are not required to be pigtailed. In all cases, where equipment grounding (bonding) conductors are used, they are required to be pigtailed [250.148(B)].
I think that Mike missed the whole point of the question here. The issue of the question was not whether pigtailing was required per se, but whether using the 15 Amp devices as part of a 20 Amp circuit was allowable. Clearly, by using all the terminal screws on those 15 Amp outlets, you are in effect using the break-away tab as part of your circuit. If the device is only rated at 15 Amps, then its use as part of the 20 Amp circuit could be a violation as the inspector stipulated?
I searched the message boards here before posting this question, and found all sorts of discussions about single, duplex, and loads on outlets, etc. But in only ONE message posted by Bob [iwire] on December 14, 2004 was the statement:
So Bob, or anyone else here, can you provide me with some tangible reference that backs up the claim that 15 Amp duplex outlets can be installed as part of the circuit conductors on a 20 Amp circuit?
Keep in mind that I am not disputing that 15 Amp receptacles can be installed on 20 Amp circuits. Only want to know the standard by which 15 Amp devices are considered to be able to handle the load of a 20 Amp circuit when wired in this manner. Don't quote 210.21(B)(3) to me as your basis, either. That section says nothing about using the device as part of the circuit, it only says its allowable to connect a 15 Amp device to a 20 Amp circuit. It says nothing about running the circuit through the underrated device. The use of pigtails as required by the inspector in this scenerio would not be in conflict of that section of the Code.
(title of thread modified to more accurately reflect subject matter)
[ November 26, 2005, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: kbsparky ]
Q. an electrician installed a two-wire 20 A receptacle circuit (12 AWG) with six 15A, 125V duplex receptacles. He wired the receptacles as feed through (daisy chain) using the four screws on each device. The inspector would not accept the installation and said that he had to splice the wires and leave a pigtail, which then connected to only two screws of the receptacle. Is this an NEC requirement?
The answer given was:
A.No. Only the grounded conductor of a multiwire branch circuit is required to be pigtailed [300.13(B)]. Even on a multiwire circuit, the ungrounded conductors are not required to be pigtailed. In all cases, where equipment grounding (bonding) conductors are used, they are required to be pigtailed [250.148(B)].
I think that Mike missed the whole point of the question here. The issue of the question was not whether pigtailing was required per se, but whether using the 15 Amp devices as part of a 20 Amp circuit was allowable. Clearly, by using all the terminal screws on those 15 Amp outlets, you are in effect using the break-away tab as part of your circuit. If the device is only rated at 15 Amps, then its use as part of the 20 Amp circuit could be a violation as the inspector stipulated?
I searched the message boards here before posting this question, and found all sorts of discussions about single, duplex, and loads on outlets, etc. But in only ONE message posted by Bob [iwire] on December 14, 2004 was the statement:
I went to 2 different manufacturer's web sites, and looked up their specs on 15 Amp rated duplex outlets. Nowhere was there any reference to the "feed-thru" capacity of them being 20 Amps. Only in cases are GFI outlets is there any mention of the devices being rated for a higher feed-thru than the listed NEMA configuration.
So Bob, or anyone else here, can you provide me with some tangible reference that backs up the claim that 15 Amp duplex outlets can be installed as part of the circuit conductors on a 20 Amp circuit?
Keep in mind that I am not disputing that 15 Amp receptacles can be installed on 20 Amp circuits. Only want to know the standard by which 15 Amp devices are considered to be able to handle the load of a 20 Amp circuit when wired in this manner. Don't quote 210.21(B)(3) to me as your basis, either. That section says nothing about using the device as part of the circuit, it only says its allowable to connect a 15 Amp device to a 20 Amp circuit. It says nothing about running the circuit through the underrated device. The use of pigtails as required by the inspector in this scenerio would not be in conflict of that section of the Code.
(title of thread modified to more accurately reflect subject matter)
[ November 26, 2005, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: kbsparky ]
