Greetings,
I have been told that the ***plug wires*** for a 120V wired smoke detector do not count towards the wire fill of the box. I just wanted to confirm that this is correct or incorrect.
Thanks, William
box wire fill and smoke detector wires
Jun 15, 2005
6 Replies
When did they start putting spark plugs in smoke detectors?
Pigtails usually aren't counted towards box fill. Never know with some inspectors, 'tho.
Matt,
120V smoke detectors normally have a male plug. The female plug has 3 leads which extend into the octagon box and are attached with wire nuts.Hope this helps, William
Per the NEC, pigtails are *never* counted: "Conductors, no part of which leaves the box, _shall_not_ be counted." [emphasis added]
That's correct.
"Where ... not over four fixture wires smaller than No. 14... enter a box from a fixture canopy and terminate within that box, it shall be permitted to omit these conductors from the calculations." [NEC, Art. 370-16 (a) 1 exception]
5 STAR RESPONSE
Thank you very much Doug Miller. That was exactly what I was looking for!
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