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Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Question:
Greetings CQD,
Regarding outlets, when there are two wires in a single gang box, power in and power out, we twisted the grounds together. My question is the neutrals and the hots. Do they have to be pig tailed. [ twisted together] or can we just use the outlet to carry the load though to the next outlet ?
Mike Mansfield
A
Answer:
Hi Mike,
As a good wiring practice, the branch circuit really should be spliced together in the box and then pigtails can be used from those splices to the devices in the box. That said, the minimum requirements of the NEC would allow connection directly to the back of the device to complete the circuit. However, for multiwire branch circuits the neutral conductors must be spliced in the box and tailed off to the device. See the definition of multiwire branch circuit in Article 100 and Section 300.13(B).