I've watched 5 videos on this and you're the only one to explain it well enough. Doing some work on a buddies garage that burned down. Am not an electrician but we have a friend who is and will go over my work.
Actually, I think the NEC calls for 6" minimum from where the cable enters the box and 3" minimum outside the box. And yes, learn to strip wire, split wood, build a house, change a tire, replace a faucet....... 👍
No, he was right about the 6" outside the box but I Believe it is more than a 1/4 of insulation inside the box. I'm pretty sure it is a 1/2 inch. I'd have to check
@@larrytoler5528 NEC Sect 300.14 reads "At least 150 mm (6 in.) of free conductor, measured from the point in the box where it emerges from its raceway or cable sheath, shall be left at each outlet, junction, and switch point for splices or the connection of luminaires or devices. The 150 mm (6 in.) free conductor shall be permitted to be spliced or unspliced. Where the opening to an outlet, junction, or switch point is less than 200 mm (8 in.) in any dimension, each conductor shall be long enough to extend at least 75 mm (3 in.) outside the opening." So, it's 6" from where it enters the box and 3" outside the box.
@@audiobrad99 Not an issue tho... making it 6" (esp cause for a 3.5" deep box you'd have to make it 6.5"!) outside isn't bad practice... only consideration is that if you make it 12" conductor (double the necessary), the conductor counts as two for volume allowances.
This video was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. One little thing for those who don't know about the hot wires going to the gold screws and the neutral wires going to the silver screws on the receptacle.
This video is what i am looking for..I am adding another outlet coming from a receptacle with one outlet already connected to it..Pig tailing all is the solution..thanks.very informative..
Pigtail wire should be twisted at the same time with the original lines to avoid overtwisting the conductors that was twisted first without the pigtail.
@@abrelectric you say "absolutely" but yet you didn't do that on any of the three joints you made. Clearly you didn't know that very basic step in pigtailing so how about you thank the person that taught you something instead of just agreeing as if it's something you already knew
😊Excellent video Sir! We’ll done with plenty of useful information.. better than any of the 5 or 6 previously watched presentations. Good life lessons as well😂! Great job!!😊
I am a DIY’r and will connect two receptacles differently. This is a trick I learned from seeing how an electrician wired a double receptacle box at my house. Make the hot, neutral & ground wires about 12” long coming out of the box. Strip the insulation off the ends of the hot and neutral wires. Then strip about 1/2” of the insulation half way down the hot and neutral wires. The ground wire probably does not have insulation and should not need wire stripping. Wrap the hot, neutral and ground wires around the appropriate screws of the first receptacle at the halfway point where the insulation was removed. Next wrap the striped ends of all three wires around the appropriate screws on the second receptacle. I like this method better than the pigtail method because it does not require wire nuts for the connection of the two receptacles and will keep the download circuit live if there are additional receptacles. If there are additional receptacles downstream, I have kept the run of Romax continuous with 12” coming out of the box. Strip 1/2” of insulation at two appropriate spots on the hot and neutral wires and then wire up the two receptacles the same as stated previously. This wiring method uses absolutely no wire nuts in the box.
Nice and simple but why not describe why you twisted two wires together and then added the third wire before pig tailing. Why not put all three wires together before pig tailing? Personal preference or some other reason?
Back in 1978 when I started wiring houses I was 14 years old. It wasn't until I was like 35 that someone showed me the pigtail method. I have never used any other way since then. It's nice that if an outlet goes bad, power continues right on down the line and can really speed up looking for circuit issues.
@@surferdude642 For many years, it was accepted practice to use the receptacle to make all of those connections, especially in the days of receptacles that allowed #12 solid stab ins. The workmanship is the real issue. A poorly done pigtail isn't any better than a poorly done receptacle termination.
Great video. Thank you. I have a question and I know very little about electrical. I'm bringing 12 guage wire into a basement kitchenette and finally managed to get the wire to both the breaker box and into the kitchenette. Currently, the whole kitchenette is wired with 14 guage. I've pulled in a dual set of 20 Amp wire. One will be dedicated to the refrigerator and one will power four 20 Amp plugs (2 GFCI, 2 regular). I have a lot of extra 12 gauge wire (the three wires are sheathed in a yellow outer plastic wrap). What's the approach to accomplishing this? Thanks much if you can respond.
Great video just what I was looking for. One question though I got a fried that supposedly knows a lot about electricity and he suggested to do ine and load instead. So question is if I have a gfci outlet with line in and loat out or vice-versa can I still do this and go straight into line on new outlet?
Are pigtails required by code? No. Are they used for good workmanship? Yes. The real advantage for the pigtails, other than disabling the circuit if the receptacle or connection to the receptacle malfunctions, is you can make the pigtails the proper length to fold neatly into the box. The pigtail connection are organized in the box as far to the rear neatly as possible. This gives plenty of space to fold the pigtail wires and fit the receptacle properly in the box as shown in the video. To make installation even easier with the triple Romex into a single duplex receptacle box (which is more than usual unless the receptacle is split), IDEAL actually made a 12 AWG THHN stranded wire dedicated pigtail with a wire nut on one side and a captive spade connector at the other. The flexible stranded wire puts almost no side load force on the screw connections, and the spade fits flat in relation to the base connection and the screw head. Unfortunately they no longer make the Black and White versions of this pigtail, probably due to cost. However, even though they were only used on rare occasions, when needed they worked very well.
actually they are required by code in my circumstance. currently the wires are daisy chained through the light switch which is against code. by making a pigtail they'll be daisy chained but not through a device.
For a duplex receptacle there are screw connections for each single receptacle to support splitting the duplex receptacle into two separately controlled single plug outlets. If you do not split the receptacle, which is obviously very common, then it is tempting to use the "extra" screw connections to make the daisy chain at the receptacle rather than making a spliced pigtail. In the case of a simple SPST wall mounted switch there are only two screw connections for the circuit, and one screw for the ground. I don't know how you would daisy chain at the switch unless you double up on the screw connections, with common rated switches doubling up is a code violation. Is this what you mean? @@cryengine_x
@@windward2818 i think so, i really dont know about electrical stuff. But there are 3 "line/load" wires going into the (I believe single pole?) switch. Two on the two screws and one in one of the backstabs. So in googling about this apparently they are feeding another switch off this one. Probably there is a switch (actually 3 with one plate) directly across from it on the other side of the wall, I'm guessing thats it. Does that make any sense? I discovered this because I'm trying to put in a smart switch, and although my home is only 23 years old, the switch wiring is as i described not two line/load like their diagram. From what I googled I can make a pigtail off two of the black wires and be ok. they also did not connect the ground wire to the green screw on the switch at all. which evidently in a plastic box is not particularly dangerous, but is still code to do so.
So, you have discovered a code violation. Only one wire or termination allowed per screw. You can daisy chain on a non-split receptacle without violating this rule because you have more screw terminations than a wall switch. However, even though you have not violated code, you have not achieved good workmanship, which in the case of the receptacle requires the use of a pigtail. With a wall switch you have no option, you must use a pigtail splice. If you do light industrial AC distribution wiring you will be using a lot of stranded wire in conduit for 20 Amp receptacle branch circuits. So, we also have a workmanship question to ask, that is, can I use a stranded wire underneath a screw. With a solid wire the answer is yes. With a stranded wire the answer is yes, but I don't really see this as a method from the master electricians. The solution is to use stranded wire terminated receptacles that don't have screws, so you can use a standard wire splicing method (like a wire nut or a lever splice (which I don't like)). Some master electricians if faced with using screw terminating receptacles (not the preferred type of device) will use a captive spade terminal (having small nubs and bent up ends so they will not come off if the screw is loose) crimped onto the wire (using a certified crimping tool designed for that particular spade terminal) and then placed under the screw and the screw torqued to specification. I have tried all three methods of screw termination for stranded wire and the one I like is the captive spade terminal and with screw torqued to specification. It just feels correct. Some of my installations are more than 30 years old now using spade terminals and I have never heard of a problem with a loose connection.@@cryengine_x
@@abrelectric thank you for the reply. I think I asked wrong. Would it then protect another receptacle that it was going to and the things that were plugged into that next receptacle?
@@wikked_pissah6295 if the wiring terminals are arranged as Line and Load, it may protector other devices downstream, like an AFCI or GFCI. Otherwise, it will only be what is plugged in.
The only thing I saw that you were doing (kind of wrong) was when you were twisting your wires together, you were twisting the first two wires tight then adding the third wire and twisting it tight, then when you added the fourth wire it was riding up and not blending in with the other wires'. When I twist multiple wires together, I will barely twist the first two together, maybe one full twist, then add the third, again only twisting it one full twist the add the fourth. Then when all the wires are bundled, I will twist them tight and put on the wire nut. Other than that, you do things the same way I do.
Among construction workers there's a brotherhood of people that have a soul it's good to hear from one of you one of us. I'm hoping you can answer this simple question can I run all of my outlets with 10 gauge and then just pigtail a little chunk of 12 gauge on the end? I know the wire is more expensive but I'm going to buy it off Facebook and probably get it for the same price that they wanted for the new 12 and I like that heavier gauge .
@@markmcgoveran6811 It's not illegal, and it's also amateurish and foolish. There's no need to run #10 for 20 amp circuits. #12 can safely carry 30 amps and you're putting it on a 20 amp breakers so 12 is already oversized (electrically) for 20 amp circuits. The other issue is that using 10 changes your box fill. Because 10 takes up more space in the box than #12, you're going to need larger boxes or you'll be limited to fewer cables entering a box. Every box requires minimum 6" of wire entering that box; good luck folding them in, and doing it neatly. You're creating more and harder work for yourself for no good reason. You also run the risk of another amateur with limited knowledge and understanding in the future seeing #10 in the panel and thinking that it would be ok to put it on a 25 or 30 amp breaker. If I opened boxes and saw this was done I'd have to immediately question any and all existing wiring in that space; it would be so obvious that a pro didn't do the wiring so I'd have to wonder if whoever did it screwed up somewhere. Not a good idea. You gain absolutely nothing by running #10.
@@pld8993 well the difference between me and the electricians I worked with and the engineers I studied under when I got to be senior standing in electrical engineering is,: I'm not all-knowing and I certainly am not hard of listening so I listen to your line of reasoning about all the negative sides of it you're right you need bigger boxes. However you are hard of listening when you consider what you already know about the benefits of using a ten gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit in a 120-volt . If the wire is long the resistance is low and the voltage drop is less with the fat wire. Even you know that. So in your personal opinion you are ignoring the fact that the voltage would drop less in any circuit that was thicker wire no matter what the length. So you would say something like it's insignificant it's this it's that it's this it's that it's just you ignored it totally to take a cheap shot at me because I'm an electrical engineer and I know something you don't know about electricity I know something you won't admit about that circuit and the characteristics of one wire over. 10 gauges it's cheaper than the 12 gage or the 14 gauge frequently enough for my purposes. Now there again you want to blow off at the head and call me a liar and tell me the price of the new wire that you charge an arm and a leg to put in praise the Lord speak one to me from on high tell me all about it from on high. Well I hate to mention that I might be a little higher in the mathematical theory department about everything that you ever thought about then you are. I buy most of my stuff off of the Facebook marketplace. You will find often enough for my purposes not yours off and off for less of my money not yours that somebody has bought the 10 and used it for a little bit of work and then just sold it for less than the price of the new 12 the same length. So due to my advanced mathematical engineering skills electrical understanding and cash flow understanding, I'm getting an equal initial cost, in a somewhat lower operating cost,of course all these things would be negligible to you since you're doing it for somebody else you want the money now quick to set it all up and it's going to cost him a fortune to have you fight that number 10 into every socket I know people that did that that were rich and I know some electricians that bitched about it while they were getting rich. I on the other hand and putting all this stuff in myself and I'm buying the cheapest wire I can use and if I can get a number 10 cheaper than I can get a 12 at a store I'm going to take the ten. I appreciate all the nasty condescending advice because I've talked to electricians before."why is it going to take you 6 years to learn all about electricity I'm electrician I know all about electricity I've been putting in electricity for 20 years I know all about it ask me anything you want to know. The first question is name of the thinking there is some iron and some copper and some insulation and some oil in a transformer is that true.... Yes that's true now you know that. My next question is if the transformer is on a 400 cycle per second aircraft alternating current power system and it's supposed to move 400 watts, how much iron how much copper and how much insulation and how much oil do I need? Like all electricians didn't know everything about electricity because they know everything about the qualitative information of electricity. Not only do most electricians have a very very limited quantitative ability to understand electricity they have a very very limited quantitative ability to understand quantitative information versus qualitative information. The electrician looked at me like he was dumb as a post. I said do you know all about a transformer and you can hook it up in the circuit and that's all you know about it where do you get a transformer does it grow on a stock like an ear of corn?
@@markmcgoveran6811 Unless your circuit length is approximately 100' or more and your conductor is close to its max current capacity, voltage drop is well within the max recommended 5% so that rules out the overwhelming majority of residential circuits. Lowering the voltage drop that's already within that 5% drop range (from 4% to 2%, for example) provides no functional or performance advantage. Aside from the necessity of staying within 5% of the operating voltage, there are no actualized benefits to using #10 on a 20 amp circuit. But go ahead, mister i'm an engineer with superior math skills who knows things you don't, do your thing and pretend you know what you're doing..
@@pld8993 well let's see friend if I lower the voltage by half the power I can carry is down to 1/4. Electrical engineering for 7 years I ran into a bunch of jackasses like you that were Superior to me in their mathematical ability and proud of it. You're so proud of your vast superiority that you're telling me 5% is the acceptable amount of loss there is no other idea there is no other idea there is no other. Why don't you apply the square law that I applied in my head to keep that in mind as I look at things and tell me exactly how much you're losing when you drop the voltage by 5%. I was there 7 years and I met all of these guys who had all this mathematical superiority and then they used it to support nothing because they didn't use it so please come back at me please come back at me Dr electrical engineer and tell me exactly how much the wattage drops with a 5% voltage loss and then tell me that is the tolerable fraction.I'm not even going to bother to pull out my calculator and calculate what you think the tolerable wattage loss is because you told me what you think the tolerable voltage loss is at 5% then you quit all the authorities up and down the pike like that means something . I want the 7 years of electrical engineering. I got screwed on a grade they were having a great appeal with a bunch of professors and I asked a good honest electrical engineering professor to come in there and be my witness as to my behavior. When he came through the door the honest guy and the rest of them saw him the look of disappointment on their face was clear these guys are mathematicians but they haven't the poker face to use it. My witness was the soul of patience he sat there and didn't say anything I never questioned him about it. Fundamentally the guy cheated me fundamentally he gave me a lower letter grade being an f and he was generous with some people who had lower scores overall than mine so he broke the rules and the order we fell in the raw scores is the order we fall in the grades it's pretty simple even an electrical engineer can't understand it.back and forth it went this phony great appeal and my friend the honest guy was impressed. Wow he said that was quite a presentation I'm pretty sure you're going to win that was very persuasive. I told him doctor I love you brother but I'm absolutely certain I'm beat I'm lost. These people are mathematical creeps and these people are mathematically astute and these people are superior at me at math. If the spreadsheet and all of the scores of all of the students and myself have shown me to be wrong they would have brought it out instantly and shown me to be wrong they're not going to sit there and waste a bunch of time being polite to some a****** like me their assholes. Lo and behold oddly enough at my hearing the one piece of evidence that would have absolutely cleared me didn't show up and I got screwed I went to the ombudsman. I told the ombudsman I had a straight A on everything and he flunked me out of spite. The ombudsman told the doctor that cheated me that he had cheated me out of an a instead of cheating me out of an f.he was so incredibly stupid he laid out every detail numerically about the scale that had changed and about the scores of the people below me and the resulting if I got for higher scores completely incriminated himself and he assumed the ombudsman was intelligent enough that she wouldn't leaked the information that proved me. I went to the ombudsman office with a copy from the IT people saying that it was straight up from my email account no way I could have done anything to this one it was a legit print out at that time place and it was signed by somebody that was pretty smart. I went to the ombudsman I asked her to sign it and she refused I asked her officemate to sign it and he said I sure will Mark I was here for this whole mess and this is the official email from this office so if you couldn't find her at work to sign it and you caught me I'll sign it. She signed it. She said if I went to the academic Senate she would have me arrested. I said can you deliver these documents. No I won't she says and if you mail them I'll have you arrested for trespass if you contact them I'll have you arrested for trespass. So I had about 10 phds doctors with engineering just like you way smarter than I am they know way more math than I ever had a chance to know so do you. Yet somehow I am so abysmally stupid I forgot what grade I earned and I accidentally told the ombudsman that and I accidentally figured out that she was too stupid to help those engineers keep a secret and I accidentally documented everybody cheating me all the way up to the grade appeal and to the ombudsman. So is a mathematically stupid person please help me figure out how much wattage lost you are accepting when you drop the voltage percent? We've gone over your credentials at Great length in your mathematical superiority and your engineering employment and likeness and everything else about you up and down the pike until I'm happy to remember my college days and all of the people just like you that were so smart one of them confessed to the ombudsman and she told the whole story of where he broke the rules how he broke the rules and how I should have passed the class.. so yeah. You got the better resume you got everything better than me better better better better up and down the pipe smarter too just like all them other people that was arbitrary and cheated. So you heard my resume and you heard my mathematical concept about the difference in the power with dropping 50% go ahead and use my equation and figure out what your tolerance of dropping power is at five percent. I don't really care you seem pretty intolerant of somebody who wants to run a fat wire cuz he got it cheap and it saves 2%.
Where can I find those short pigtail wires I need neutral ones and hot ones. The exact ones in this video. If anything please list the names that would help me alot thanks!
I added a new outlet from an existing outlet that already had two set of wires. So i did exactly like on the video. Months later the wire nut on the hots started melting, any ideas why? Plz it will be so helpful. My brother has a heater connected to it it says 120v 60hz.
Did you twist the wires in that bundle? Are all the wires solid or is it a mix with stranded? Did the wire nut completely cover the stripped copper in the bundle? Are the wires the same gauge or a mix of sizes? How many watts does the heater draw?
@@abrelectric wires are all the same 3 sets of 12/2, they were twisted but since the box was small ground got a bit loose and one hot was slightly uncovered all the way by the wire nut. I took everything out, put a box with bigger space and used wago wire nuts everything is perfectly tight now.
If this box were serviced multiple times in this way, there would be no wire left in the box that’s long enough to make a connection! And all exist wires would need to be replaced! I don’t think it’s a good practice to randomly cut wires like this, unless it’s really excessive!
Is it ok to use the Wago 221 connectors, instead of wire nuts ?? I have been using the ECX Milwaukie screwdriver, instead of Phillips, also a #1 Robertson square drive work great as well. Thanks for the video
I don’t understand how people can think that pigtailing makes troubleshooting easier. Pigtailing introduces another failure point, puts more wire in the box and the fact of the matter is the bus bar on the side of an outlet is not the failure point of the outlet. Sure the screws can loosen. But a wire nut can fall off or be poorly installed too. Poor workmanship can be with how you install wire nuts just as easily as how well you loop a wire around a screw and tighten it. If anything the screws are probably easier for DIYers. There are situations where pigtails are necessary but unless you have to just use the bus bar on the side of the device.
All things being equal, I think the average electrician or laymen is more likely going to screw up putting three or four wires on a couple screws than four or five wires in a wago or a tightly wound wirenut. Both can fail, but some methods are easier to get right than others.
If you are a teacher you are really bad. putting all the wires together and twisting them all at once makes a better connection. Stabbing wires in the back is legal, a good Electrican will not stab them if they do any service work, the loose connections come from pluging cords in and out which deterates the little metal tab in the outlet.
The most important tip if you don't make the noises it won't work lol great job quick to the point and easy to understand
Old Dad noises. Trade secret 😜
I've watched 5 videos on this and you're the only one to explain it well enough. Doing some work on a buddies garage that burned down. Am not an electrician but we have a friend who is and will go over my work.
You're a good friend! Take your time and test your work.
@@abrelectric Definitely taking my time. I enjoy electrical.
Thanks for the content, I really appreciate guys like you.
Actually, I think the NEC calls for 6" minimum from where the cable enters the box and 3" minimum outside the box. And yes, learn to strip wire, split wood, build a house, change a tire, replace a faucet....... 👍
No, he was right about the 6" outside the box but I Believe it is more than a 1/4 of insulation inside the box. I'm pretty sure it is a 1/2 inch. I'd have to check
@@larrytoler5528 NEC Sect 300.14 reads "At least 150 mm (6 in.) of free conductor, measured from the point in the box where it emerges from its raceway or cable sheath, shall be left at each outlet, junction, and switch point for splices or the connection of luminaires or devices. The 150 mm (6 in.) free conductor shall be permitted to be spliced or unspliced. Where the opening to an outlet, junction, or switch point is less than 200 mm (8 in.) in any dimension, each conductor shall be long enough to extend at least 75 mm (3 in.) outside the opening."
So, it's 6" from where it enters the box and 3" outside the box.
@@audiobrad99 Not an issue tho... making it 6" (esp cause for a 3.5" deep box you'd have to make it 6.5"!) outside isn't bad practice... only consideration is that if you make it 12" conductor (double the necessary), the conductor counts as two for volume allowances.
I’m adding an outlet in my garage and this was a nice refresher course
This video was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. One little thing for those who don't know about the hot wires going to the gold screws and the neutral wires going to the silver screws on the receptacle.
Awesome! Hopefully I'll have more helpful videos for you!
This video is what i am looking for..I am adding another outlet coming from a receptacle with one outlet already connected to it..Pig tailing all is the solution..thanks.very informative..
Very informative and helpful video- thanks for the concise instructions and clear video. Great job.
Thanks for the info ABR! It'll be helpful for me in my day to day work.
Pigtail wire should be twisted at the same time with the original lines to avoid overtwisting the conductors that was twisted first without the pigtail.
Absolutely
@@abrelectric you say "absolutely" but yet you didn't do that on any of the three joints you made. Clearly you didn't know that very basic step in pigtailing so how about you thank the person that taught you something instead of just agreeing as if it's something you already knew
@@TheElectricalNut ok
Thank you!
@@TheElectricalNut thank you
😊Excellent video Sir! We’ll done with plenty of useful information.. better than any of the 5 or 6 previously watched presentations. Good life lessons as well😂! Great job!!😊
Thank you! Appreciate that
Thank you for taking the time to make this helpful video.
Awesome! Are you using the info at home or work?
I am a DIY’r and will connect two receptacles differently. This is a trick I learned from seeing how an electrician wired a double receptacle box at my house. Make the hot, neutral & ground wires about 12” long coming out of the box. Strip the insulation off the ends of the hot and neutral wires. Then strip about 1/2” of the insulation half way down the hot and neutral wires. The ground wire probably does not have insulation and should not need wire stripping. Wrap the hot, neutral and ground wires around the appropriate screws of the first receptacle at the halfway point where the insulation was removed. Next wrap the striped ends of all three wires around the appropriate screws on the second receptacle. I like this method better than the pigtail method because it does not require wire nuts for the connection of the two receptacles and will keep the download circuit live if there are additional receptacles. If there are additional receptacles downstream, I have kept the run of Romax continuous with 12” coming out of the box. Strip 1/2” of insulation at two appropriate spots on the hot and neutral wires and then wire up the two receptacles the same as stated previously. This wiring method uses absolutely no wire nuts in the box.
Solid wire, right? I have done this making up a 4 plex (2 plugs in a 2g box). Great idea
That was just what I needed to see- thanks!
I am super glad it was helpful
Nice and simple but why not describe why you twisted two wires together and then added the third wire before pig tailing. Why not put all three wires together before pig tailing? Personal preference or some other reason?
The first 2 are the in and out power, the 3rd is the jumper to the device. It's really just habit, not a rationale choice :)
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated.
Back in 1978 when I started wiring houses I was 14 years old. It wasn't until I was like 35 that someone showed me the pigtail method. I have never used any other way since then. It's nice that if an outlet goes bad, power continues right on down the line and can really speed up looking for circuit issues.
'78!? You and Edison rope houses together? :) Thank you!
Awesome comment!@@abrelectric
That's 21 years without pigtails, wondering if you had many call backs or failures?
@@surferdude642 For many years, it was accepted practice to use the receptacle to make all of those connections, especially in the days of receptacles that allowed #12 solid stab ins. The workmanship is the real issue. A poorly done pigtail isn't any better than a poorly done receptacle termination.
@@surferdude642 Never had a single callback.
Super helpful! And a good laugh.
Very helpful! Thank you!
Can you show how to connect an outdoor light to an existing light switch? Thanks
Great video. Thank you. I have a question and I know very little about electrical. I'm bringing 12 guage wire into a basement kitchenette and finally managed to get the wire to both the breaker box and into the kitchenette. Currently, the whole kitchenette is wired with 14 guage. I've pulled in a dual set of 20 Amp wire. One will be dedicated to the refrigerator and one will power four 20 Amp plugs (2 GFCI, 2 regular). I have a lot of extra 12 gauge wire (the three wires are sheathed in a yellow outer plastic wrap). What's the approach to accomplishing this? Thanks much if you can respond.
Great video just what I was looking for. One question though I got a fried that supposedly knows a lot about electricity and he suggested to do ine and load instead. So question is if I have a gfci outlet with line in and loat out or vice-versa can I still do this and go straight into line on new outlet?
Sort of apples and oranges: GFCIs with power in and out, you can pigtail if you have 2 or more load romexes, and attach the pigtail to the load.
Great video. Thanks
What a great video!
That was an awesome video. Thank you. It
Thank you very clear and on the money. It helped me very much
Are pigtails required by code? No. Are they used for good workmanship? Yes. The real advantage for the pigtails, other than disabling the circuit if the receptacle or connection to the receptacle malfunctions, is you can make the pigtails the proper length to fold neatly into the box. The pigtail connection are organized in the box as far to the rear neatly as possible. This gives plenty of space to fold the pigtail wires and fit the receptacle properly in the box as shown in the video.
To make installation even easier with the triple Romex into a single duplex receptacle box (which is more than usual unless the receptacle is split), IDEAL actually made a 12 AWG THHN stranded wire dedicated pigtail with a wire nut on one side and a captive spade connector at the other. The flexible stranded wire puts almost no side load force on the screw connections, and the spade fits flat in relation to the base connection and the screw head. Unfortunately they no longer make the Black and White versions of this pigtail, probably due to cost. However, even though they were only used on rare occasions, when needed they worked very well.
actually they are required by code in my circumstance. currently the wires are daisy chained through the light switch which is against code. by making a pigtail they'll be daisy chained but not through a device.
For a duplex receptacle there are screw connections for each single receptacle to support splitting the duplex receptacle into two separately controlled single plug outlets. If you do not split the receptacle, which is obviously very common, then it is tempting to use the "extra" screw connections to make the daisy chain at the receptacle rather than making a spliced pigtail. In the case of a simple SPST wall mounted switch there are only two screw connections for the circuit, and one screw for the ground. I don't know how you would daisy chain at the switch unless you double up on the screw connections, with common rated switches doubling up is a code violation. Is this what you mean? @@cryengine_x
@@windward2818 i think so, i really dont know about electrical stuff. But there are 3 "line/load" wires going into the (I believe single pole?) switch. Two on the two screws and one in one of the backstabs. So in googling about this apparently they are feeding another switch off this one. Probably there is a switch (actually 3 with one plate) directly across from it on the other side of the wall, I'm guessing thats it. Does that make any sense? I discovered this because I'm trying to put in a smart switch, and although my home is only 23 years old, the switch wiring is as i described not two line/load like their diagram.
From what I googled I can make a pigtail off two of the black wires and be ok.
they also did not connect the ground wire to the green screw on the switch at all. which evidently in a plastic box is not particularly dangerous, but is still code to do so.
So, you have discovered a code violation. Only one wire or termination allowed per screw. You can daisy chain on a non-split receptacle without violating this rule because you have more screw terminations than a wall switch. However, even though you have not violated code, you have not achieved good workmanship, which in the case of the receptacle requires the use of a pigtail. With a wall switch you have no option, you must use a pigtail splice.
If you do light industrial AC distribution wiring you will be using a lot of stranded wire in conduit for 20 Amp receptacle branch circuits. So, we also have a workmanship question to ask, that is, can I use a stranded wire underneath a screw. With a solid wire the answer is yes. With a stranded wire the answer is yes, but I don't really see this as a method from the master electricians. The solution is to use stranded wire terminated receptacles that don't have screws, so you can use a standard wire splicing method (like a wire nut or a lever splice (which I don't like)).
Some master electricians if faced with using screw terminating receptacles (not the preferred type of device) will use a captive spade terminal (having small nubs and bent up ends so they will not come off if the screw is loose) crimped onto the wire (using a certified crimping tool designed for that particular spade terminal) and then placed under the screw and the screw torqued to specification. I have tried all three methods of screw termination for stranded wire and the one I like is the captive spade terminal and with screw torqued to specification. It just feels correct. Some of my installations are more than 30 years old now using spade terminals and I have never heard of a problem with a loose connection.@@cryengine_x
If you put a surge protector receptacle in that box would it then protect everything else those sets of wires are going to?
It would protect everything plugged into it.
@@abrelectric thank you for the reply. I think I asked wrong. Would it then protect another receptacle that it was going to and the things that were plugged into that next receptacle?
@@wikked_pissah6295 if the wiring terminals are arranged as Line and Load, it may protector other devices downstream, like an AFCI or GFCI. Otherwise, it will only be what is plugged in.
@@abrelectric thank you very much..I appreciate it
Is there 3 neutral wires in that box and why
The only thing I saw that you were doing (kind of wrong) was when you were twisting your wires together, you were twisting the first two wires tight then adding the third wire and twisting it tight, then when you added the fourth wire it was riding up and not blending in with the other wires'. When I twist multiple wires together, I will barely twist the first two together, maybe one full twist, then add the third, again only twisting it one full twist the add the fourth. Then when all the wires are bundled, I will twist them tight and put on the wire nut. Other than that, you do things the same way I do.
Among construction workers there's a brotherhood of people that have a soul it's good to hear from one of you one of us. I'm hoping you can answer this simple question can I run all of my outlets with 10 gauge and then just pigtail a little chunk of 12 gauge on the end? I know the wire is more expensive but I'm going to buy it off Facebook and probably get it for the same price that they wanted for the new 12 and I like that heavier gauge .
@@markmcgoveran6811 It's not illegal, and it's also amateurish and foolish. There's no need to run #10 for 20 amp circuits. #12 can safely carry 30 amps and you're putting it on a 20 amp breakers so 12 is already oversized (electrically) for 20 amp circuits. The other issue is that using 10 changes your box fill. Because 10 takes up more space in the box than #12, you're going to need larger boxes or you'll be limited to fewer cables entering a box. Every box requires minimum 6" of wire entering that box; good luck folding them in, and doing it neatly. You're creating more and harder work for yourself for no good reason. You also run the risk of another amateur with limited knowledge and understanding in the future seeing #10 in the panel and thinking that it would be ok to put it on a 25 or 30 amp breaker. If I opened boxes and saw this was done I'd have to immediately question any and all existing wiring in that space; it would be so obvious that a pro didn't do the wiring so I'd have to wonder if whoever did it screwed up somewhere. Not a good idea. You gain absolutely nothing by running #10.
@@pld8993 well the difference between me and the electricians I worked with and the engineers I studied under when I got to be senior standing in electrical engineering is,: I'm not all-knowing and I certainly am not hard of listening so I listen to your line of reasoning about all the negative sides of it you're right you need bigger boxes. However you are hard of listening when you consider what you already know about the benefits of using a ten gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit in a 120-volt . If the wire is long the resistance is low and the voltage drop is less with the fat wire. Even you know that. So in your personal opinion you are ignoring the fact that the voltage would drop less in any circuit that was thicker wire no matter what the length. So you would say something like it's insignificant it's this it's that it's this it's that it's just you ignored it totally to take a cheap shot at me because I'm an electrical engineer and I know something you don't know about electricity I know something you won't admit about that circuit and the characteristics of one wire over. 10 gauges it's cheaper than the 12 gage or the 14 gauge frequently enough for my purposes. Now there again you want to blow off at the head and call me a liar and tell me the price of the new wire that you charge an arm and a leg to put in praise the Lord speak one to me from on high tell me all about it from on high. Well I hate to mention that I might be a little higher in the mathematical theory department about everything that you ever thought about then you are. I buy most of my stuff off of the Facebook marketplace. You will find often enough for my purposes not yours off and off for less of my money not yours that somebody has bought the 10 and used it for a little bit of work and then just sold it for less than the price of the new 12 the same length. So due to my advanced mathematical engineering skills electrical understanding and cash flow understanding, I'm getting an equal initial cost, in a somewhat lower operating cost,of course all these things would be negligible to you since you're doing it for somebody else you want the money now quick to set it all up and it's going to cost him a fortune to have you fight that number 10 into every socket I know people that did that that were rich and I know some electricians that bitched about it while they were getting rich. I on the other hand and putting all this stuff in myself and I'm buying the cheapest wire I can use and if I can get a number 10 cheaper than I can get a 12 at a store I'm going to take the ten. I appreciate all the nasty condescending advice because I've talked to electricians before."why is it going to take you 6 years to learn all about electricity I'm electrician I know all about electricity I've been putting in electricity for 20 years I know all about it ask me anything you want to know. The first question is name of the thinking there is some iron and some copper and some insulation and some oil in a transformer is that true.... Yes that's true now you know that. My next question is if the transformer is on a 400 cycle per second aircraft alternating current power system and it's supposed to move 400 watts, how much iron how much copper and how much insulation and how much oil do I need? Like all electricians didn't know everything about electricity because they know everything about the qualitative information of electricity. Not only do most electricians have a very very limited quantitative ability to understand electricity they have a very very limited quantitative ability to understand quantitative information versus qualitative information. The electrician looked at me like he was dumb as a post. I said do you know all about a transformer and you can hook it up in the circuit and that's all you know about it where do you get a transformer does it grow on a stock like an ear of corn?
@@markmcgoveran6811 Unless your circuit length is approximately 100' or more and your conductor is close to its max current capacity, voltage drop is well within the max recommended 5% so that rules out the overwhelming majority of residential circuits. Lowering the voltage drop that's already within that 5% drop range (from 4% to 2%, for example) provides no functional or performance advantage. Aside from the necessity of staying within 5% of the operating voltage, there are no actualized benefits to using #10 on a 20 amp circuit. But go ahead, mister i'm an engineer with superior math skills who knows things you don't, do your thing and pretend you know what you're doing..
@@pld8993 well let's see friend if I lower the voltage by half the power I can carry is down to 1/4. Electrical engineering for 7 years I ran into a bunch of jackasses like you that were Superior to me in their mathematical ability and proud of it. You're so proud of your vast superiority that you're telling me 5% is the acceptable amount of loss there is no other idea there is no other idea there is no other. Why don't you apply the square law that I applied in my head to keep that in mind as I look at things and tell me exactly how much you're losing when you drop the voltage by 5%. I was there 7 years and I met all of these guys who had all this mathematical superiority and then they used it to support nothing because they didn't use it so please come back at me please come back at me Dr electrical engineer and tell me exactly how much the wattage drops with a 5% voltage loss and then tell me that is the tolerable fraction.I'm not even going to bother to pull out my calculator and calculate what you think the tolerable wattage loss is because you told me what you think the tolerable voltage loss is at 5% then you quit all the authorities up and down the pike like that means something . I want the 7 years of electrical engineering. I got screwed on a grade they were having a great appeal with a bunch of professors and I asked a good honest electrical engineering professor to come in there and be my witness as to my behavior. When he came through the door the honest guy and the rest of them saw him the look of disappointment on their face was clear these guys are mathematicians but they haven't the poker face to use it. My witness was the soul of patience he sat there and didn't say anything I never questioned him about it. Fundamentally the guy cheated me fundamentally he gave me a lower letter grade being an f and he was generous with some people who had lower scores overall than mine so he broke the rules and the order we fell in the raw scores is the order we fall in the grades it's pretty simple even an electrical engineer can't understand it.back and forth it went this phony great appeal and my friend the honest guy was impressed. Wow he said that was quite a presentation I'm pretty sure you're going to win that was very persuasive. I told him doctor I love you brother but I'm absolutely certain I'm beat I'm lost. These people are mathematical creeps and these people are mathematically astute and these people are superior at me at math. If the spreadsheet and all of the scores of all of the students and myself have shown me to be wrong they would have brought it out instantly and shown me to be wrong they're not going to sit there and waste a bunch of time being polite to some a****** like me their assholes. Lo and behold oddly enough at my hearing the one piece of evidence that would have absolutely cleared me didn't show up and I got screwed I went to the ombudsman. I told the ombudsman I had a straight A on everything and he flunked me out of spite. The ombudsman told the doctor that cheated me that he had cheated me out of an a instead of cheating me out of an f.he was so incredibly stupid he laid out every detail numerically about the scale that had changed and about the scores of the people below me and the resulting if I got for higher scores completely incriminated himself and he assumed the ombudsman was intelligent enough that she wouldn't leaked the information that proved me. I went to the ombudsman office with a copy from the IT people saying that it was straight up from my email account no way I could have done anything to this one it was a legit print out at that time place and it was signed by somebody that was pretty smart. I went to the ombudsman I asked her to sign it and she refused I asked her officemate to sign it and he said I sure will Mark I was here for this whole mess and this is the official email from this office so if you couldn't find her at work to sign it and you caught me I'll sign it. She signed it. She said if I went to the academic Senate she would have me arrested. I said can you deliver these documents. No I won't she says and if you mail them I'll have you arrested for trespass if you contact them I'll have you arrested for trespass. So I had about 10 phds doctors with engineering just like you way smarter than I am they know way more math than I ever had a chance to know so do you. Yet somehow I am so abysmally stupid I forgot what grade I earned and I accidentally told the ombudsman that and I accidentally figured out that she was too stupid to help those engineers keep a secret and I accidentally documented everybody cheating me all the way up to the grade appeal and to the ombudsman. So is a mathematically stupid person please help me figure out how much wattage lost you are accepting when you drop the voltage percent? We've gone over your credentials at Great length in your mathematical superiority and your engineering employment and likeness and everything else about you up and down the pike until I'm happy to remember my college days and all of the people just like you that were so smart one of them confessed to the ombudsman and she told the whole story of where he broke the rules how he broke the rules and how I should have passed the class.. so yeah. You got the better resume you got everything better than me better better better better up and down the pipe smarter too just like all them other people that was arbitrary and cheated. So you heard my resume and you heard my mathematical concept about the difference in the power with dropping 50% go ahead and use my equation and figure out what your tolerance of dropping power is at five percent. I don't really care you seem pretty intolerant of somebody who wants to run a fat wire cuz he got it cheap and it saves 2%.
Where can I find those short pigtail wires I need neutral ones and hot ones. The exact ones in this video. If anything please list the names that would help me alot thanks!
I made them, cutting those 6" wires from a piece of Romex
@@abrelectric thank you so much!! I was lucky enough to find some Romex rolled up in the garage and never knew I had them lol!
I added a new outlet from an existing outlet that already had two set of wires. So i did exactly like on the video. Months later the wire nut on the hots started melting, any ideas why? Plz it will be so helpful. My brother has a heater connected to it it says 120v 60hz.
Did you twist the wires in that bundle? Are all the wires solid or is it a mix with stranded? Did the wire nut completely cover the stripped copper in the bundle? Are the wires the same gauge or a mix of sizes? How many watts does the heater draw?
@@abrelectric wires are all the same 3 sets of 12/2, they were twisted but since the box was small ground got a bit loose and one hot was slightly uncovered all the way by the wire nut. I took everything out, put a box with bigger space and used wago wire nuts everything is perfectly tight now.
Btw the heater manual says it uses 1500 watts
@@coolbros2163 let's see how it holds! Thank you
@@coolbros2163any updates?
Why didn't you twist the 4 wires together instead of 3 first and then the pigtail?
Which 4 wires? We have 3 hots, 3 neutrals and 3 grounds to connect to the receptacle. The pigtail simply connects the 3 wire bundle to the receptacle
If this box were serviced multiple times in this way, there would be no wire left in the box that’s long enough to make a connection! And all exist wires would need to be replaced! I don’t think it’s a good practice to randomly cut wires like this, unless it’s really excessive!
Good point. Keep in mind that you don't typically need to do this but every several years.
Being conservative with the wire length is a good practice.
Just use Wagos or similar. No need for all that twisting and you can reuse the wire as many times as you want. Wire nuts are the things of the past.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
learned something
Awesome! If you don't mind me asking, what did you pick up?
@@abrelectric how to use wire nuts and what they were for
The easiest way to add pigtails is by using WAGO connectors. Takes less time and uses less room in the box...great for DIYer's
Lots of guys like Wagos. They definitely are neater in the box, as you mentioned
Is it ok to use the Wago 221 connectors, instead of wire nuts ??
I have been using the ECX Milwaukie screwdriver, instead of Phillips, also a #1 Robertson square drive work great as well.
Thanks for the video
Absolutely! IMO, if you follow the manufacturer guidelines for your preferred connector, and you make a long-term solid connection, it's a win.
I'm paranoid; I wrap the receptacle with 33 tape after I tighten down the ones I didn't use.
That's thorough
Thank you sir! Great job at teaching!
Ima buy some wagos and use the extra time Im saving to not do anything.
Sound investment
I don’t understand how people can think that pigtailing makes troubleshooting easier. Pigtailing introduces another failure point, puts more wire in the box and the fact of the matter is the bus bar on the side of an outlet is not the failure point of the outlet. Sure the screws can loosen. But a wire nut can fall off or be poorly installed too. Poor workmanship can be with how you install wire nuts just as easily as how well you loop a wire around a screw and tighten it. If anything the screws are probably easier for DIYers. There are situations where pigtails are necessary but unless you have to just use the bus bar on the side of the device.
Yes it's also seems like extra work and extra point of failure
All things being equal, I think the average electrician or laymen is more likely going to screw up putting three or four wires on a couple screws than four or five wires in a wago or a tightly wound wirenut. Both can fail, but some methods are easier to get right than others.
Anybody notice how bad the new boxes are? Such cheap garbage that break or bend while trying to push cable into the box, especially multiple 12/2.
Yes, I have to pre-punch with needle nose pliers.
Yes, I had metal boxes installed in my house. 4x4 metal box with a mud ring.
If you are a teacher you are really bad. putting all the wires together and twisting them all at once makes a better connection. Stabbing wires in the back is legal, a good Electrican will not stab them if they do any service work, the loose connections come from pluging cords in and out which deterates the little metal tab in the outlet.
Absolutely. Watch the video - we're pigtailing to avoid loose connections