Breaker panel questions
 

On May 19, 5:49*pm, "Bob(but not THAT Bob)"
wrote:
When the mfr specifies the max. # of breaker poles, are the 2 poles on
the main breaker considered in the total?

Is it kosher to wirenut 2 wires together and pigtail to a breaker

within a panelboard?

wire nuts in the panel are a no-no......I would wager that, that
prohibtion is nearly universal

that's why I usually install a LARGE box near any main or sub I
install......gives a place to do this sort of thing and still be code
compliant

cheers
Bob

Breaker panel questions
 

On May 19, 7:08*pm, wrote:
On Tue, 19 May 2009 18:22:40 -0700 (PDT), fftt
wrote:



On May 19, 5:49*pm, "Bob(but not THAT Bob)"
wrote:
When the mfr specifies the max. # of breaker poles, are the 2 poles on
the main breaker considered in the total?

Is it kosher to wirenut 2 wires together and pigtail to a breaker

within a panelboard?

wire nuts in the panel are a no-no......I would wager that, that
prohibtion is nearly universal

that's why I usually install a LARGE box near any main or *sub I
install......gives a place to do this sort of thing and still be code
compliant

cheers
Bob

That is not true at all. You are allowed to splice in a panelboard
enclosure. The issue is "fill" and a wirenut has a fill adder of zero.

could you explain further?

tia
Bob

Breaker panel questions
 

That is not true at all. You are allowed to splice in a panelboard
enclosure. The issue is "fill" and a wirenut has a fill adder of zero.

could you explain further?

tia
Bob

I would also be very interested in some more detail on this.

jc

Breaker panel questions
 

On May 20, 9:34*am, "Joe" wrote:
That is not true at all. You are allowed to splice in a panelboard
enclosure. The issue is "fill" and a wirenut has a fill adder of zero.

could you explain further?

tia
Bob

I would also be very interested in some more detail on this.

jc

Here is the applicable section of the code with emphasis in the form
of capitalization provided by me.

373-8. Enclosures for Switches or Overcurrent Devices
Enclosures for switches or overcurrent devices shall not be used as
junction boxes, auxiliary gutters, or raceways for conductors feeding
through or tapping off to other switches or overcurrent devices,
UNLESS adequate space for this purpose is provided. The conductors
shall not fill the wiring space at any cross section to more than 40
percent of the cross-sectional area of the space, and the conductors,
splices, and taps shall not fill the wiring space at any cross section
to more than 75 percent of the cross-sectional area of that space.

Modern panel cabinets have plenty of room for splices. When an
inspector tells me I cannot have a splice in the panel I politely ask
for chapter and verse. The one inspector who refused to provide it
was readily overruled as "arbitrary and capricious" by the appeals
board. The board was not the least bit interested in the details.
His failure to provide chapter and verse was sufficient. The others
hung their hats on the article quoted here. They all changed their
position once they were questioned on how the splice actually violated
the article. There is no basis in the code for forbidding the use of
any listed or recognized materials in an enclosure unless it is
actually overfilled by calculation of the cross sectional area of the
gutter and the cross sectional area of the wires contained therein.
This article is broadly over cited by inspectors. The real issue is
the training and certification of inspectors.

--
Tom Horne