"Steve Barker LT" wrote in message

By pigtailing you avoid the chance that a loose connection on any one
outlet
would affect the downstream outlets. It is especially important when
using
12-3 to pigtail the neutrals. This way if you have to replace an outlet,
you don't "open" your neutral circuit to the downstream outlets.

If you had to replace an outlet, you'd have the breaker off at the panel,
wouldn't you? Why would you care what happened downstream on a dead circuit
branch?

I looked in a recent addition of "Wiring Simplified" and they show
pigtailing only when the wire feeding the outlet box goes on to another
circuit, and not just the string of outlets. They clearly show a string of
outlets connected by the two pairs of screws on each side. Their only
caveat is that code prohibits more than one wire under a screw terminal.
That just means you have no choice but to continue the string of outlets
until the end and not wire in any other devices. If they were wrong, I
would have hoped someone would have noticed by the 38th edition. :-)

I ask because in the new home construction I've encountered, not only were
the outlets chained together, they were backstabbed together. Now that's
asking for trouble, but for a different reason. Those connections can
vibrate loose and if they're on an outside wall, they can work loose by
expansion and contraction.

It's just good practice to never use the outlet as a connection by
putting 4 wires on it.

From what I've seen adding more connections to the outlet box doesn't
increase reliability. If you pigtail you've got two extra "three wires to
one wire nut" connections for each outlet. I've come across more than one
"three wire nut" that's got one wire popped out of it.

It takes strong hands and a good eye to cut, strip and twist three stiff
wires into a nut that will survive repacking into the back of the box. It's
not a problem for an electrical pro, but for people doing their own electric
al work, it seems a lot easier and lot more reliable if they just daisy
chain the outlets using the screw terminals.

I'm still not clear on why it would be preferable for even an electrician to
make three connections (pigtail) when he could just as easily make only two
(pass-thru), especially when we're talking about a string of outlets on a
dedicate breaker. What am I missing?

--
Bobby G.