DIYbanter - View Single Post - do outlets have to be strictly serial in layout?

wrote in :

Hello,

looking to add a couple of outlets for convenience (not
planning on significantly upping the loading on the circuit)
at the end of a run.
the way everything is structured it would be much easier to
just Tee the two off of the last outlet rather than run them
serially.
no other issues.

does this violate NEC? (can't imagine why it would but it
doesn't hurt to ask.)

thanks in advance
ml

The only issue with this I know of that you might run into and is
addressed by the NEC is box fill. That is, trying to jam too many wires
into a box. I saw in your other post that this a 20a circuit so you'll
need at least #12 wires. If you have a single 12/2 in, 2 12/2s out and a
device you'll need a box for (3 cables * 2 current carrying conductors
each) + 1 for grounds + 2 for the receptacle = 9 * 2.25 cu in/conductor =
20.25 cu in. If you happen to have a 4x4 box then you might be in good
shape or there are some extra deep single gang plastic boxes that big.
It's still going to be tight in any single gang box.

If you have some place to which you can pull the original feed back you
might consider putting a junction box there then branching off to your 3
locations from it.

Doug