"free conductor"

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charlie b said:
I have not seen anything that tells me that anyone would object to splicing a 2 inch wire to a 4 inch wire, and thus achieving 6 inches of free conductor.
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If you do that, aren't you violating the rule right off the bat? You are splicing to a wire that is not 6" long to make it 6" long. I understand the splice the code speaks of is probably (most likely) to another conductor. That is not to say I haven't done just what you're suggesting because of a router-happy drywall hanger cutting conductors in device boxes a time or two............ or five hundred. If you fail a rough inspection because you don't have 6" of wire inside the device box, I highly doubt the inspector is going to allow you to just add a piece of wire with a wire nut to the end of each conductor to get the required 6". Do you? Just how I see it. Everyone sees it differently, otherwise this would be a pretty boring forum. :grin:
 
btharmy said:
If you do that, aren't you violating the rule right off the bat? You are splicing to a wire that is not 6" long to make it 6" long. I understand the splice the code speaks of is probably (most likely) to another conductor. That is not to say I haven't done just what you're suggesting because of a router-happy drywall hanger cutting conductors in device boxes a time or two............ or five hundred. If you fail a rough inspection because you don't have 6" of wire inside the device box, I highly doubt the inspector is going to allow you to just add a piece of wire with a wire nut to the end of each conductor to get the required 6". Do you? Just how I see it. Everyone sees it differently, otherwise this would be a pretty boring forum. :grin:
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i agree that out in the field wires get shortened, drywallers, new apprentices, and i guess for other reasons. all i can say is ive never seen an inspector fail it. im not saying that some wouldn't but that doesn't make them right. maybe the rule needs to be clarified, but i still say spliceing is fine.
 
I've always twisted 6" of each EGC in the box, then either capped it with a green wire nut, or pigtailed a 6" piece of copper to extend to the device.

I worked for a guy who believed that you could cut all but one of the EGCs down to 2" in the box with one 8" EGC, spliced together underneath the green wire nut.

I thought that was crazy, but this thread makes me think that's not such a big deal. I just always thought that you should be able to untwist the EGCs to add another one without having to work with two fingers inside the box to twist them together.
 
jaylectricity said:
I just always thought that you should be able to untwist the EGCs to add another one without having to work with two fingers inside the box to twist them together.
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That's what needle-nose pliers are for. ;)

I've added jumpers to those old 1" long undersized EGC's by bending the pigtail in a J and twisting on a little orange.
 
LarryFine said:
That's what needle-nose pliers are for. ;)

I've added jumpers to those old 1" long undersized EGC's by bending the pigtail in a J and twisting on a little orange.
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I have done this countless times when following a ground-snipping moron.

Add: and for broken brittle Al conductors.
 
LarryFine said:
That's what needle-nose pliers are for. ;)

I've added jumpers to those old 1" long undersized EGC's by bending the pigtail in a J and twisting on a little orange.
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I've done that in those situations, which is why I make up my boxes the way I do now.
 
Take the 'fluff' out of the first sentence and it reads,

6" of free conductor shall be left for SPLICES or connection to fixtures.

Q. How much free conductor shall be left before splicing ?

1. 4 inches
2. 2 inches
3. 6 inches
 
charlie b said:
I think the original question had to do with a six inch wire coming from the left conduit, and a six inch wire coming from the right conduit, totalling 12 inches of wire, in a box that is 12 inches wide, so that the two wires might be able to touch each other, but could not be actually connected to each other.
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Wago...................
 
One-eyed Jack said:
If the tester does not provide All of the pertinent information they have no reason to expect a correct answer. Your example assumes a splice in the conductors from the same cable or conduit. This could very well be true but is not stipulated. For practical reasons it would be better to say 12 inches. Sometimes the testors don't live in the real world.
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This is really just your opinion, of which I disagree with. What is so practical about it?
 
benaround said:
Take the 'fluff' out of the first sentence and it reads,

6" of free conductor shall be left for SPLICES or connection to fixtures.

Q. How much free conductor shall be left before splicing ?

1. 4 inches
2. 2 inches
3. 6 inches
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I agree. 6" is the MINIMUM length BEFORE splicing or terminating.

That said, there have been lots of times when AFTER the rought in the sheetrockers have cut a wire which required splicing a piece of wire to it to make it useable. That doesn't mean that during the initial install it's OK to leave the wires only 3" long.
 
Pierre C Belarge said:
This is really just your opinion, of which I disagree with. What is so practical about it?
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You can not make a joint if the wires don't reach. Why make multiple splices when one will do. It is not practical to have arbitrary lenghts of conductor when you have j-box sizes that make your short wire (6") useless. Would you splice a wire multiple times when you could arrange for one. It is about planning and the j-box and the splice should be part of the plan.
 
One-eyed Jack said:
You can not make a joint if the wires don't reach. Why make multiple splices when one will do. It is not practical . . . . .
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All true. None of it relevant. :roll: The original question is about code requirements, not about practical installations.
 
charlie b said:
All true. None of it relevant. :roll: The original question is about code requirements, not about practical installations.
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correct ... and we certainly don't want to confuse the Code with practicality :grin:

Thanks for the input, guys.
 
charlie b said:
I grew up in Texas. Isn't that a city out in the Western panhandle? :roll: If not, then what is a wago? :-?
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Wago is a push connector used in lieu of a wire nut.

773-k.jpg
 
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