This creates more room in the outlet box, and with less to squeeze into the box there is less chance of something coming loose because of crowding and pushing and less chance of terminals inadvertently touching something they shouldn’t. This means there is only one hot and one neutral connection screwed to the device even though many wires are coming in. (The good guys at give a handy tip to twist the wires clockwise because when you screw the wire nut on, you’ll most likely be twisting it in a clockwise motion, so twisting the wires clockwise beforehand ensures a tight electrical connection.) The single, loose wire can then be connected to the screw point on the device. If an extension wire is being added, this is when it is put in.Īll these wires are twisted together. Once tests have been done to check that there is no power to the circuit, wires are grouped by color: white, black, and earth respectively, and then stripped of the protective coating. Many electricians pigtail wires by connecting hot and neutral wires together that terminate in the same outlet. For safety, all pigtails must be sealed tightly with a wire nut! The National Electric Code (NEC) requires that a pigtail wire be at least 6 inches long. Various wires – some connected with wire nuts – inside a wall outletĪ pigtail connection is a short length of wire that is connected to several circuit wires that are twisted together and sealed with an insulating wire nut (connector) at one end and then screwed to a screw terminal on an electrical device. This is useful for locations where there isn’t always someone on hand to make repairs or simply for peace of mind. The other outlets in the circuit will still work making what could be a catastrophe of large parts of the circuit being down to an inconvenience of just one outlet or appliance acting up. Pigtailing throughout a project can also turn a potentially big headache into a smaller one: Because pigtailing makes a more secure connection by keeping the circuit flowing even if there is a fault, it can buy you some time to do a repair if one of the outlets in a circuit has a fault. Leave it to an electrician to ‘call it like I see it’! It’s possible that this type of connection is called a pigtail because the exposed copper wires that are joined are twisted together and end up looking a little like the curly tail of a pig. This technique can save you time, and even make a more secure connection, and who doesn’t love to save time on a project? If you are in any doubt about what electrical work or modifications are required, you should seek advice from a qualified electrician.īecause there are a few good reasons to use a pigtail in an outlet box, it’s a very useful skill to have and is a must for anyone into DIY projects. This article has been fact-checked for accuracy, but every electrical installation is different. Reminder: Remember that your top priority, particularly when you are working with electrical equipment, has to be safety. Here’s some information to help you make the decision. If you can get to grips with why a pigtail is the best solution for your situation you can make the safest and most informed decision. Just because it has this advantage, however, doesn’t mean you have to do it this way, or even that you should. With the alternative feed-through method, a fault in the device will stop the current from flowing to the rest of the circuit. The advantage of the pigtail method is that if an outlet has a fault, power will still flow to the rest of the circuit. If done correctly, a pigtail in an outlet is safe. Don’t worry, they won’t start squealing, and nor will the smell of sizzling bacon start coming from your outlet, but because it can look confusing, you may be asking yourself if these pigtails should be in there in the first place? Shouldn’t one wire go to one screw only? Maybe in your electrical DIY projects, you have come across a situation where you find a bunch of wires have been twisted together and connected to one wire.
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