110 Outlet Wiring Question-Pigtails???

[tomshep]

I am in the process of wiring the garage.

I am working with an electrician that is doing the final connections.

One item he recommended was using pigtails for each outlet instead of connecting the wires directly to the screws on the outlet.

I did one so far and adding pigtails and wire nuts makes the jbox pretty small in a hurry and adds a lot to the work time.

I am tempted to go back to my original plan of just wiring each direction through the screws.

Any recommendations or is there something I am missing here?

Thanks, Tom

 

[jhelrey]

Pigtails are nice because you can shove the wires to the back of the box and just have the 2 or 3 wires.

 

[venturesomerite]

So are you talking about more than one outlet per box or just one?

If I am understanding correctly, you mean a feed in, wire nutted to a feed out to another outlet, as well as also nutted to pig tails going to the outlet in the box.

I have seen it done both ways. I have also been told it is fine to do it both ways. Personally I don't really see why you would need to though.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I am in the process of wiring the garage.

I am working with an electrician that is doing the final connections.

One item he recommended was using pigtails for each outlet instead of connecting the wires directly to the screws on the outlet.

Thanks, Tom

I would like to hear one good reason why in the world you would want to do something like that?

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have seen it done, but don't know why !

 

[skeletonizer]

One reason is so that (if your pigtails are long enough) you can pull the outlet out of the box and change it out without disturbing the other connection's in the box thereby fatiguing the wire. It makes life easier if you need to work in the box in the future.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

makes sense

 

[jasonreck71]

I have about 25 outlets in my garage and I just used the screws on the back of the outlets...pigtails unless i am misunderstanding what they really are seem like a good bit of extra work

 

[cat06]

biggest reason for pigtailing is, if more than one device (outlet) is on the same circuit and if it should fail it will not take out the rest of the devices on that circuit.

Now this might not be a big deal in your personal shop when you only have yourself to blame, but if you are paid to do a job it helps to keep complaints down.

Also when making up the pigtails it's considered good "workman like" practice to twist the wire ends together before installing the wire nut, making a stronger more mechanical joint and less of a chance of failure from a loose wire pulling out of the wire nut. Again less failure less chances of call backs

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I never seen that, one plug goes out and the rest stop working unless its a gfi.
when you wire from plug to plug the power doesn't go thru the receptacle, the wires on the plug are connected buy a bar that is basically the same as being wire nutted together.

 

[jasonreck71]

biggest reason for pigtailing is, if more than one device (outlet) is on the same circuit and if it should fail it will not take out the rest of the devices on that circuit.

Now this might not be a big deal in your personal shop when you only have yourself to blame, but if you are paid to do a job it helps to keep complaints down.

Also when making up the pigtails it's considered good "workman like" practice to twist the wire ends together before installing the wire nut, making a stronger more mechanical joint and less of a chance of failure from a loose wire pulling out of the wire nut. Again less failure less chances of call backs

That make sense from a contractor point of vioew, I totally get that. Saving on service calls alone is worth the extra effort, but for a home owner doing it themselves I think you could skip the pigtails...JUST DONT'T MESS IT UP

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I have about 25 outlets in my garage and I just used the screws on the back of the outlets...pigtails unless i am misunderstanding what they really are seem like a good bit of extra work

I did all mine the same way also and if I had 2 outlets in one box I would strip a section of the insulation about 4 or 5" from the end of the wire and wrap that around the screw of first receptacle and hook the end of the wire on the other recptacle. that saves even more space and wire nuts

 

[Alchymist]

I never seen that, one plug goes out and the rest stop working unless its a gfi.
when you wire from plug to plug the power doesn't go thru the receptacle, the wires on the plug are connected buy a bar that is basically the same as being wire nutted together.

I've seen it several times - bar burns off - loose fitting plug, arc, whatever can cause it.

 

[Falcon67]

I did mine in-out. Then I read about not breaking the neutral and thought about some possible fault that would open the neutral but leave the hot intact. So I think I'll go back and pigtail at least the neutrals.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

On multi-wire branch circuits (MWBC) where you have two opposing hots and one shared neutral, you are required by the code to wire is so that temporary or permanent removal of a device in the circuit does not interrupt the neutral, thus you must pigtail it.

It is much easier in most cases to take incoming and outgoing wires and wire nut them with a pigtail and then fold them tightly into the back of the box. Form a Z fold in the pigtails and connect them to the device (screwtight backwired is best I think) and then it is easy to fold the three wires (hot, neutral, grd) back into the box. Much easier than fighting 5 wires or seven, trying to fold them all back in at once. Less stress on the device also.

In a garage or shop, there is no good excuse for not using large boxes, 4x4 deep, for everything, then you have plenty of room to work in the box and nothing gets cramped or broken or damaged.

Charles

 

[Highbeam]

I'm a pigtailer. I get my work inspected and I want it to look very professional and that's how the pros do it. When the inspector comes I have the wirenuts pointing up in the back of the box with the black on one side and the white and bare on the other. All three pigtails sticking out of the box ready to put on the receptacle.

On a related note. I really like the fancier receptacle connection systems where you shove the wire into the hole and tighten the screw which clamps the wire internally. No hooks to screw up, faster, more secure, and there is less exposed hot metal. Very much like the GFCI outlets.

I have a pet peave about pretwisting wires before nutting. You do not have to do that.

 

[gatchel]

In hospitals and other life critical environments I hear this is required. A shop environment, to each their own.

 

[BigJohn20]

Wagos with the proper # of ports can help clean up a small box very fast.

 

[PRH44]

Charles is making a very important point about multiwire branch circuits. It is possible for current to be flowing in the neutral even when the circuit feeding the subject receptacle is de-energized. If one would remove the receptacle and open this neutral connection, the current would be looking for a path to flow. In this case it could be the individual removing the receptacle. A very dangerous condition. All though multiwire branch circuits have been very popular the 2008 code cycle made the following change:

210.4 (B) Disconnecting Means. Each multiwire branch circuit
shall be provided with a means that will simultaneously
disconnect all ungrounded conductors at the point where
the branch circuit originates.

This makes the multiwire branch circuit less attractive for contractors, mainly because de-energizing only one circuit at a time is difficult.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

All it means is that the handles of the two circuit breakers have to be mechanically linked together so when one trips, the other trips. This means (best way) using a double pole common trip breaker (like you would use for 240v circuits. Second way is to use two single pole breakers with a tie bar specified by the manufacturer of the breakers (listed handle tie).

MWBC have their uses. I don't advocate their use for general purpose receptacles/outlets, but if you have specific circuits that could benefit from them, by all means do so. I used MWBC for my lighting, as I was looking at long runs of wire and pushing up on the 80% capacity of the circuits If I only ran a two wire 120v circuit.

Charles

 

[Gooch]

I'm a pigtailer. I get my work inspected and I want it to look very professional and that's how the pros do it. When the inspector comes I have the wirenuts pointing up in the back of the box with the black on one side and the white and bare on the other. All three pigtails sticking out of the box ready to put on the receptacle.

On a related note. I really like the fancier receptacle connection systems where you shove the wire into the hole and tighten the screw which clamps the wire internally. No hooks to screw up, faster, more secure, and there is less exposed hot metal. Very much like the GFCI outlets.

I have a pet peave about pretwisting wires before nutting. You do not have to do that.

I have an opposite about twisting wires, IMO, they should be twisted.

 

[jrsulo]

I have an opposite about twisting wires, IMO, they

should be twisted.

 

[Aceman]

I have a pet peave about pretwisting wires before nutting. You do not have to do that.

I have a pet peeve for just the opposite.

Pretwisting lets you see the connection before twisting the wirenut on, I don't know why anyone would have a peeve about that? Especially from the guy who takes the time to pigtail and avoid loose connections....?

To each their own.

 

[PT Doc]

biggest reason for pigtailing is, if more than one device (outlet) is on the same circuit and if it should fail it will not take out the rest of the devices on that circuit.

Now this might not be a big deal in your personal shop when you only have yourself to blame, but if you are paid to do a job it helps to keep complaints down.

Also when making up the pigtails it's considered good "workman like" practice to twist the wire ends together before installing the wire nut, making a stronger more mechanical joint and less of a chance of failure from a loose wire pulling out of the wire nut. Again less failure less chances of call backs

I agree with this. If outlet fails then everything downstream still works. You deal with the bad outlet at your convenience instead of having to drop everything or relocate to different portion of garge to keep going. I think it's a great idea.

Imagine the cost of doing the whole house like this.

 

[tomshep]

Thanks for the comments and recommendations.

Pigtails it is!

Tom

 

[Lugnut64052]

biggest reason for pigtailing is, if more than one device (outlet) is on the same circuit and if it should fail it will not take out the rest of the devices on that circuit.

Exactly right.
A couple of weeks ago I got a call from one of our renters. She was complaining about electrical gremlins so I went and and took a look. Turned out to be a cheapo receptacle, wires just poked into the back, which had melted/failed internally, puffing out the whole rest of the circuit downstream of it.

 

[rburke65]

Rewired houses for 11years.....always pigtail.