I have been stringing receptacles in series in a bedroom addition and wanted to add an outlet through to the adjacent bedroom (they share an interior wall).
I’ve run the wire, so now I have (1) incoming feed to the original mid-run receptacle and (2) outgoing lines–one down the line of outlets I have already wired and one supplying power to the additional receptacle.
My question: the receptacle has two terminals, I have three wires. Do I just make a pigtail and power this extra receptacle in parallel and keep the rest of my outlets in series?
If the above scenario isn’t clear, then maybe someone could just explain to me how to tap into an existing circuit to add a receptacle/fixture that already has both hot and ground wires used. Can you just pigtail in another line in parallel, do you need to replace the receptacle with one with three hot/ground terminals, or do I need to use a junction box?
Sorry for the dumb question, but all the books I have never explain this part and just get straight to the wiring details…
Thanks!
Replies
Pig tail all three conductors[ hot, neutral, and ground] with wire nuts. It is considered good workmanship [ at least around here] to pigtail all receptacles, and just land one each hot, neutral and ground on the device. This insures continuity on down the line if one device is removed. It is not a code requirement unless the devices are on a multiple wire circuit with a shared neutral. Don't make your pigtailed wires too long, as you must push them to the back of the box to make room for your receptacle
Re: "It is considered good workmanship [ at least around here] to pigtail all receptacles"...I hear that line a lot. But it isn't necessarily that simple.Depends on how you think about it. One one hand a pigtailed receptacle leaves the rest of the circuit functioning if the receptacle has a fault. A good thing if whatever is being fed is important, perhaps a freezer full of expensive cuts.On the other hand daisychained receptacles, ones using the terminals on the receptacle itself to make the connection, tend to cut power to downstream receptacles if there is a fault. Now half the living room is dead. Very inconvenient. But on the up side this tends to motivate people to find out what the problem is and have it corrected in a timely manner. When the man's ESPN cuts out in the middle of the playoffs the resistance to calling in an electrician evaporates.Generally a fault that is corrected in a more timely manner is less of a risk than one which is allowed to remain for a long time. Arcing and 'cooking' can easily cause fires if allowed to continue. I have also seen this on service calls where nearly every room in a house has one or more receptacles that have faults. People are lazy and simply plug the lamp into the next receptacle along the wall when the one they are normally using fails. Once the lamp works the problem is forgotten. Eventually people start using extension cords and potentially hazardous outlet multipliers instead of breaking down and calling in an electrician. More than once I have seen poorer households where every receptacle but one in a room is shot so the room is an octopus of cheap extension cords feeding off one overloaded receptacle.Part of electrical work, especially in a residential setting, is to understand and work with normal human behaviors and tenancies. To adapt the design of the electrical system so that normal human behavior interacts with the installation in such a way as to promote safety. This is also why I see little need for shared neutrals in a residential setting. Designing the system to eliminate a potential problem is a good thing. Designing the system so that people are motivated to get repairs done in a timely manner can also be a good thing.Daisychaining receptacles has down sides and it has advantages. Knowing both sides each method can be used in an intelligent manner to maximize reliability where it is a concern and to get repairs done long term. Better a visit by the electrician than a visit by the fire department is a simple concept but until a fault keeps the lady from watching 'General Hospital' faults tend to be worked around.Daisychaining is also faster. Four ends stripped and four wires landed versus eight wires stripped, two wirenuts installed and two wires landed. This, of course, leaves out he ground as it is common to both cases.
RE:" Daisy chaining is also faster"
While you make some good points about having to protect the homeowners from themselves,I have seen several instances of the jumper bar on the receptacle burning into before the circuit breaker trips. Particularly on 15 amp receptacles on 20 amp circuits..........
Anyway, I will stick with my statement about workmanship. Not pigtailing receptacles ranks right down there with using 39 cent receptacles and using the friction fit stab connections on the back.
I've never tried to be "faster" for the sake of just being faster. My experiences have been that my customers have appreciated a job with no call backs and built in reliability[obtained by using spec grade devices and good workman like installation practices.]
I should note though that these qualities are appreciated by my customers which are 100% commercial and industrial occupancies. I won't do residential. Too many contractors taking too many shortcuts[ all code legal] in my opinion. I think that we sometimes lose sight of the fact that the NEC is just the minimum standard.
I was doing some handyman work in a house.One of the items was to replace a receptacle with some broken off in it, a child safety cap.And in the living room diagnose the ceiling fan remote control unit, fan worked but not the lights.I needed to kill the power to fan to take out the sender to check it and to ID the breaker went to plug in one of the Ideal transmitters/breaker tracers. It also had something broken off it in.So I also replaced that one.But the other 1/2 of the receptacle was broken.It was a split receptacle with 1/2 switched, 1/2 hot. And the power and switch leg was at that box. It also powered downstream receptacles.They used both the back stabs and the screw terminals. I remeber that the hot on one half had both back stab holes used and the screw. I think that the other half only used the 2 back holes.
You should pig tail all the recepticals, rather than use the terminals as feed throughs.
Short answer is yes, pig tail and wire in your remaining receptical where ever it lands in the string.
Dave
Took me a while to figure out your description.
I think you are saying: you have been stringing outlets together around a room by using the 2 hot screws ( brass) and the 2 neutral (silver) screws as your connection points at each outlet. Now you want to power a second outlet in another room from one of your middle of the run outlets. This gives you three wires to connect to two terminals. Right?
Further you ask if you can pigtail the cable to the new outlet.
At the outlet where you wish to add the cable to feed the new outlet in the other room: pigtail the line old line in, old line out, cable to the new outlet, plus a 12" piece of wire of matching color. This means you will be joining 4 pieces of wire at each wire nut; 4 black, 4 white, 4 bare ( red wire nuts will be fine for either #14 or #12 wire).
You may need to change this box to a larger one to hold the additional conductors - capacity table is molded into the back of plastic boxes.
The outlet in the box where these connections are made is connected to power via the new 12" wire tags from your pigtailed connections - trim to length and connect to the screws on the outlet.
NOW FOR MY QUESTION - What have you been doing with the bare ground wires as there is only one ground screw on an outlet????????? You should have been pigtailing all along this circuit to provide grounds. Or perhaps you have been using Greenie wire nuts for joining the ground wires and providing a pigtail at the same time? Two wires under a ground screw is a no-no. If the boxes are metallic, they also must be grounded - pigtail and a ground screw to connect.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.