Anyone watching this and thinking about doing this themselves, make sure to cut the power on the main breaker before doing any of what you saw, and also realize that the giant wires feeding the busses before the main breaker is still hot and make sure to stay clear of it and don't put yourself in a situation where your screwdriver might slip and jam into it. It's also a good practice to never put yourself in a position that you might slip and hit the mains or the buss bars ever, even if you think they are disconnected. And it doesn't hurt to check stuff out with a meter before you start anything either. You never really know until you test it. And if you don't know how to use a meter, then you probably shouldn't be doing this honestly.
I appreciate your time 😎 one project I’m doing is expanding my house I have a 200 amp split bus panel that’s full but I am going to move a couple breakers plus the hvac circuits to the other panel which will be all on the opposite end of the house I’m doing it also to reduce voltage drop. I enjoyed watching your video 😎
Thanks for the video - it does a good job explaining this issue. I recently had an inspector point out two double tab breakers in my CH panel. After some research I found that the breakers i have do allow double tap. Like you mentioned, not all do. On CH, it's not clearly marked. You have to pull the breaker out and look on the side at the molded in text. One comment - you clearly stated this is not a full how do work in an electrical box safely video. But even at that, showing pictures of unscrewing wires with the breaker on is a little bit far down on the "I'm not showing you everything" list
If you look at the pressure foot that captures the wire, there will be two places for wire in units that allow double tap, there will be a flat foot or single detent in the ones that do not. No reason to remove the breaker.
New subscriber here. Thanks alot for the video! Were dealing with 4 tandem bug-a-boos flipping through a 20a Pixie cave. This information was a safe start! Thanks again. Cheers to the plant!
Super Thx Going to tankless HW heater which needs 3-4 40 amp double thro breakers problem is my box is full. Square D makes two wire circuit breakers and two brakers on one circuite braker slot. You and your video saved my butt.
Well explained, sir. And yes we electricians DO run into this all the time. Just a word of caution about adding a breaker and moving one of the double tapped wires. When you relocate a hot wire you must be mindful of phasing. Phasing importance may or may not apply when moving a wire. Probably best to call sparky to correct the issue for you. Improper phasing may become a fire hazard over the years. Improper phasing is also something we run into all the time. Truthfully, I see it more often than I see double tapped wires. I see phasing problems so often that I pretty much automatically scan a panel when I open it up.
@R B I'm assuming he (sully) means to make sure that you're not sharing neutrals (white wire) with 2 wires going to different phases. In other words, if you have a 12-3 wire: black, red, white & ground wire going into the panel, if the black and red wires go into a breaker, put them both on the same breaker(wire nut them together and have 1 wire going to the breaker.) This avoids having current coming from one phase and current from the other phase meeting on 1 neutral (that they are sharing). It is ok if the current from 2 wires (on the same breaker) share the same neutral wire. :)
before bothering with fixing "double tap" be sure that the breaker is not double tap rated. All QO products 30 amp and lower are double tap rated! You can actually tell by the shape of the pressure pad having two places for wire. I don't know how many times I have had a home inspector call out a double tap that was actually legal. It costs the customer a service call for the electrician for no reason.
I have the opposite problem. I'm having to flip off 2 separate breakers to get my upstairs lights to turn off. They stay on when either one of them is flipped on Individually... does anyone know what is going on? Thank you.
Question? I have a 2 story condo. My attic is on top my office. Attic has water heater, A/C & furnace. Office has treadmill and computer. On the same singles breaker. There are 2 switches. Should i separate these two rooms?
Hey I'm adding a plug in just above my circuit breaker so I can plug in my security cameras. I have no more room for neutrals. Oddly I have two bus bars for ground. Is it safe to find a circuit that just powers like the bedrooms and pigtail. Or should I pull out the lead and make the new box the first connection and pigtail inside the new plug in box. I hope that makes sence.
So i have a wire 12/3 wire, black, red, white and ground but black goes to a 20am breaker and the red goes to another 20am breaker. Is this correct, is this safe.. should I get a double pole breaker and fix this. Why would this be wired like this on the same wire
If the two wires are sharing a neutral they must have a double pole breaker with a tie bar so they both shut off. Otherwise you can be electrocuted when working with the circuits and one is off.
Although the tail is very short, would it be a good idea to make it a larger gauge? Say 2 12Ga together with a 10Ga tail. I suppose no, because the 12Ga tail will not see more than 20A from the breaker. Correct?
nope. There is no reason because the breaker will "blow" to protect the wire. If the breaker is 20 amp, all wire must be at least 12 gage. If it is 15 amp then all must be at least 14 gage. You can use larger wire, but there is no justification as the breaker will blow at those amperages and pig-tailing will not increase the total of amperage allowed.
Look at the pressure pad where the wire enters. It will be obviously designed for double tap. The side of the breaker will also tell you if you remove it and read.
You should have two hot wires in the receptacle. Completely remove one of the wires and tape/wirenut it. Many would just worry about the hot and leave the neutrals alone. I would undo the neutral to prevent some sort of fault tripping thing. I would leave all the bare copper wires connected.
You are damned lucky and they must be on the same phase or you would have blown the breakers and maybe damaged the panel. just make sure that ONLY one breaker controls that circuit.
provided the jha agree the nec is just a guide of bare minimum recommendations the jha has final say on what is code compliant.(but honestly yes %99 if you follow the nec your good)
Pigtailing is the connection choice for tapping more than one wire connecting to load side of breaker. Just don't go over the wires rating both in amps and voltage.also breakers rating.
A double tap is dangerous specially when a solid and a stranded wires are connected on the same screw , or when you have 2 different size wires , also you must be very careful and I won’t recommend doing this to the DIY, if you have multi wiring circuits ( that means 2 or more circuits sharing the same neutral ) you cannot just add breakers , you can add another breaker , but it must be on the same phase where the double tap is , if you make a mistake here you can overload the neutral wire or burn the insulation , a tandem breaker is a better option and most of the manufacturers make them . Note : when you have wires of the same size and type is not a big deal , but is not up to code and is something happened in your house the insurance company probably won’t pay you , another NO NO , is when you have a copper and aluminum wire on the same screw , or spliced together. Sometimes is better to hire an electrician ( licensed) and have peace of mind , and be careful because there are some electricians that are not clear on the neutrals issue. GOD BLESS YOU
You should not use the term “tapped”. There is a very specific condition that is in NEC defined as a tap. This absolutely does not meet that definition.
4:20 eekk, connections need to be properly torqued, especially in a segment discussing the risks of potentially loose mechanical connections. That doesn't mean with your screw gun, that doesn't mean with your wrist. Any professional electrician needs to have a calibrated torque instrument and use it.
Wow ... who taught you how to wire? #1 Your NEW pigtail wire is not code... you have to much exposed bare wire coming from the breaker. # 2 Not required but a really good safety practice would be to wrap electrical tape on the yellow wire nut so i does not come undone!
Never tape a wire nut. There is an installation specification and you should follow that and that alone. I could quote the average spec but forget it. You should don't be doing electrical.
Technically, it's not legal to pigtail in the panel like that. It's a splice. Bhut in a home, generally an inspector isn't going to get all hard nose about it unless he's related to Hitler. I once replaced the entire guts in a house that had the entire guts ripped out of it. All the wires were cut. First electrician looked at it told the homeowner that it was going to be expensive because by code, he had to rework everything so that there would be no splices inside the panel. But I told him, let's try it: I'll splice it all back together, make it very clean, and the inspector tolerated it because A: it was clean and practical and it wasn't going to start a fire. B: the homeowner was going to be on the hook for a hefty bill from an electrician if it was all put back accordion to code and that homeowner was already a 'victim' they stole his panel guts and his A/C. so he let it slide.
2 branch circuits drawing 20 amps EACH (16 max each) connected to ONE 20 amps breaker really?? Then you pigtail the 2 # 12 AWG to ONE #12 AWG?? You load your little cute pigtail #12 gauge wire with twice max 16 amp from each branch? I don’t see how that can fly...
The breaker will trip if the circuit was overloading. The electricity flows from the breaker out to the pigtails then to the loads, not from the loads to the pigtail to the breaker.