Spare wires left on CB

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wireday

Senior Member
Location
New England
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Master electrician
What's best, spare wires for future use left on CB or removed wire nutted and tagged ? I have about 15 circuits. one end will be in a box wires capped and tagged. Is there any code reference ?
 
I'm thinking it depends on how the load ends are terminated. As you describe it, they can be hot.
 
ActionDave said:
I would leave them on the breaker.
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I hate it when spare wires are left on a breaker...I have no idea if that breaker is really a "spare" or not if there are conductors landed on it. If there is no connected conductor, I know I can use the breaker for a new circuit. If there is a conductor, I have to verify that the conductor is not powering something.
When I would look at projects and see the panel directory with a circuit marked "spare", I would always remove the cover, and if there is a conductor, I would not consider it spare....found that the hard way one one of my projects where I needed to add a circuit for new equipment. A number of breakers marked "spare" on the directory, but actually all in use when I removed the cover. The first step I take to try to verify if a conductor is in use or not is an amp clamp...in this case all of the spare breakers had loads on them. After that I always removed the cover to check before giving a price to the customer.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
I hate it when spare wires are left on a breaker...I have no idea if that breaker is really a "spare" or not if there are conductors landed on it. If there is no connected conductor, I know I can use the breaker for a new circuit. If there is a conductor, I have to verify that the conductor is not powering something.
When I would look at projects and see the panel directory with a circuit marked "spare", I would always remove the cover, and if there is a conductor, I would not consider it spare....found that the hard way one one of my projects where I needed to add a circuit for new equipment. A number of breakers marked "spare" on the directory, but actually all in use when I removed the cover. The first step I take to try to verify if a conductor is in use or not is an amp clamp...in this case all of the spare breakers had loads on them. After that I always removed the cover to check before giving a price to the customer.
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I'll bet in the circumstance you describe the spare breaker was labeled that way and there were no conductors pulled to it and then sometime in the future someone pulled a new circuit and hooked it up to the spare breaker.

I never trust circuit directories. I feel the same way about them that you do about wire colors.

Aside from all that, do you know what it takes to land a wire breaker in a panel that's energized these days? If the wire is already landed leave it alone. Put some labeling everywhere you think it will be helpful and go home knowing you helped someone save a week and half of unproductive labor and a file folder of paperwork.
 
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hbiss said:
No guarantee, but that's what the tag hanging off the wire at the breaker in the panel should tell you.

-Hal
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Would not trust that any more than the panel directory. If I spare it out, the wire comes off the breaker, but will have a tag telling where the other end is.
 
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I do not leave any conductors connected to a potential voltage source unless it is connected to a device first. My thinking goes along with wiring something up. Start with the device and work to the source. When disconnecting, start at the source and work to the device. I don't like finding a live wire bugged off or even on a terminal strip. Spare dead wires are nice. Spare live ones ain't. And it drives me nuts when I see a paper tag on a breaker that says "Do not use, leave turned off." If it shouldn't be used, don't leave wires on it. Instead, I tag the breaker and both ends of the disconnected wires "<Device> disconnected" with date and signature.
 
ActionDave said:
I'll bet in the circumstance you describe the spare breaker was labeled that way and there were no conductors pulled to it and then sometime in the future someone pulled a new circuit and hooked it up to the spare breaker.

I never trust circuit directories. I feel the same way about them that you do about wire colors.

Aside from all that, do you know what it takes to land a wire breaker in a panel that's energized these days? If the wire is already landed leave it alone. Put some labeling everywhere you think it will be helpful and go home knowing you helped someone save a week and half of unproductive labor and a file folder of paperwork.
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You got a point. It can come down to which is more professional. Having live, unused wires in the field or wiring a breaker in a hot panel. Yeah, I know one is allowed and the other not ...
 
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