Doubling electrical wiring

[twentworth]

Say I need to deliver 20 amps to a circuit. Is is possible to use two

10 amp wires tied together to do this?

[dpb]

Depends on what you mean as to how you intend.

Physically, two 14ga wires paralleled would be adequate, yes, but if you're speaking of household wiring, NEC forbids multiple connections on a breaker terminal so that expedient isn't allowed.

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[RBM]

NEC also requires wires run in parallel to be 1/0 or greater

[clare at snyder dot ontario do]

Are you sure? I'm quite sure there is more than one wire per breaker in many panels - or would there be one wire on the breaker, tied to 2 or more with wire-nuts? Easy way around that would be heavy wire to a junction box, where two light wires were connected. However, having 2 LIVE wires connected to one device is, as far as I know, against code.

** Posted from **

[jack]

No, for the obvious reason that if one wire worked loose you would still have a circuit, but it would be grossly overloaded.

I made a 150' extension cord by cable tying a 14/2 extension cord and a 16/3 cord together with cable ties; using one for the hot and the other for the neutral. If one conductor worked loose I might have excessive voltage drop, but it would be safe. Still not legal, but safe. (I got the extension cords at a going out of business sale for 80% off, but they were the largest they had.)

[ithejury]

No.