Stabs & Pigtails

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GUNNING said:
Ok, I pigtail and back stab.
Engineers with larger degrees than I, say it's ok.
The UL guys and gals say it is ok.
The NEC folks say it is OK.

Q: can you use #14 gauge wire, off of a 20 amp circuit with #12 wire pig tailed, and back stab into a 15 amp receptacle or switch ?

hmmmmm ...:?
Click to expand...

I have done service work since 1976 and have lost count of how many times backstabbing was the culprit. If you mostly do new work, you will never see the problems because someone else fixes them. I have seen the simple issue of wire pulling out the back and the more serious issue of receptacles smoking & melting from stabbing.

Engineers probably designed Federal Pacific and Zinsco Equipment. They are not infallible.

I have seen a lot of junk with UL labels, such as Federal and Zinsco above. I have seen their labels on equipment wired with hots to shells of lights, ground lugs secured with tek screws to thin metal, wiring boxes so tight I could barely get feeders in, etc. A lot of good equipment carries UL labels but it tends to be a money racket in my opinion. The cost to even get it reviewed by UL is out of sight for many smaller companies.

I lost a lot of respect for NEC over this very issue; allowing stabs while requiring AFCI.
 
Nearly a week now & they haven't called back. I must have hit the problem with 1 or more of the receptacles.

This is another case too, where I did well to follow my instincts and not listen to the GC. When I looked at wiring the new sunroom a few months ago, he asked why I could not tap from the wiring in that bedroom, that it had been installed just the year before and was new, up to current code. I replied that since panel space was available, I preferred to start new with my work; that I didn't know the previous electrician and had no idea how well he had done his work.

If I had listened to him, my new wiring would be on that same breaker & I'd be stuck with warranty work when my ckt shut down. This way, I was able to charge for my troubleshooting work.

Always better to start new with your work than depend on what some unknown person did before.
 
Pigtails and UL and multibranch circuit

Pigtails and UL and multibranch circuit

I wondered when I could wire through a receptacle or if a had to pigtail it and found in UL's 2011 White Book RECEPTACLES FOR PLUGS AND ATTACHMENT PLUGS (RTRT)

Single and duplex receptacles rated 15 and 20 A that are provided with more than one set of terminals for the connection of line and neutral conductors have been investigated to feed branch-circuit conductors connected to other outlets on a multi-outlet branch circuit, as follows:
Back-wire (screw-actuated clamp type) terminations with multiple wire-access holes used concurrently to terminate more than one conductor.
Side-wire (binding screw) terminals used concurrently with their respective push-in (screwless) terminations to terminate more than one conductor.
Single and duplex receptacles rated 15 and 20 A that are provided with more than one set of terminals for the connection of line and neutral conductors have not been investigated to feed branch-circuit conductors connected to other outlets on a multi-outlet branch circuit, as follows:
Side-wire (binding screw) terminal with its associated back-wire (screw-actuated clamp type) terminal
Multiple conductors under a single binding screw
Multiple conductors in a single back-wire hole
Duplex receptacles rated 15 and 20 A that are provided with break-off tabs may have those tabs removed so that the two receptacles may be wired in a multi-wire branch circuit or multiple branch circuits.
 
They finally called today, Friday afternoon, to say it had been tripping again. Said it was several times a day, starting day following my work. Why they waited so long, I don't know. I'll have to pull out a huge bed & headboard to get to the 2 recepts buried there. Another thing I hate about resi, having to move so much junk to reach anything.
 
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