What does the NEC say about wiring multiple gang switches using one continuos conductor with the wire stripped just enough to coil around the screw and then continued to the next switch? I've seen this in old wiring but not sure if it is still OK by code.
It's probably the best and neatest way to bridge the feed to multiple switches. An alternative would be pigtails to a wirenut
If your switches are in a gang, you really should have the police check them. They might be carrying guns and doing drugs.
Seriously, I have never seen anything in the code to say you can't do this. I have done it all my life, and I feel this is the BEST way to do it. Splices in wire always have the possibility of loose conections. Doing this, there is one continuous wire. so it's probably safer.
From experience, one warning. Leave enough wire between them. Be sure your screws are tightened well. Otherwise you may get loose screws when ou pack the switches in the box. #12 is the most likely to do this.
With that in mind, what is the easiest way to strip the wire for that type of splice without nicking the wire.
Get a wire stripping tool and use the proper gage opening. Test it on a piece of scrap first. Shave the insulation to be removed near the bare wire and peel it off. I use a Klein, I like Ideal too. Richard
I can't imagine the NEC saying that. It doesn't concern itself with "neatness."
cite?
*** CAREFULLY ***
I just use a utility knife. I cut the two ends all the way around, then I slit it down the middle and peel the piece off. You want about
3/4 inch exposed. Be sure to wrap it around the screw. A needle nose plyers helps with that. Allow about 5 to 6 inches wire between each device. When you pack the wires in the box, form a "U" in the wire, and get that "U" between the devices as you push them in.Try 110-12 "electrical equipment shall be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner"
110.12 Mechanical Execution of Work. Electrical equipment shall be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner.
Touche! Is that anything more than an aspiration, though? Has an inspector ever failed an installation for lack of neatness, I wonder?
I seem to recall it described as 'dressing the cables'. IE, making nice Z-folds in the wires as you stuff them back in the box, so the poor slob 20 years later can get the now-stiff wires out, and have a hope of getting the new device to go back in square. I changed or fixed polarity on about half the outlets in this house, and a lot of them were a real rat's nest in there, including screwdriver-nicked wires on the hot side, a sixteenth of an inch from shorting out to the box. I can't claim my dressage was up to pro standards, but it was better than what I found when I started.
aem sends...
Actually it does. It's called "workmanship".
Yes, others have corrected me on that. But has a job that was otherwise compliant ever failed inspection because not sufficiently neat?
According to CJT :
Define neat in this context ;-)
Most workmanship issues boil down to neatness in one way or another.
Clearly there are times where a wiring job is electrically correct, but the inspector will ask for changes because of things like excessive and unnecessary J boxes, poor routing, rat-nesting etc.
Inspectors consider neat jobs a sign that the wiring is done right, and you'll probably have less trouble passing.
The answer to your question is yes but that case went all the way to the supreme court who then struck down any enforcement based on "neat and workman like manor" as unconstitutionally vague. I was never taught the cite but the case occurred in the late 1950s.
I'm sure if you asked any inspector, he'd have plenty of examples of jobs that were failed because they were sloppy, but conversely,in my own experience, I'm sure many of my jobs were passed, without close examination, simply because they were neat
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