STOP Cutting Wires So Short!!! What Does Code Say?

all right stop cutting your wires super short at electrical boxes you can't do anything when you're over here cutting all your wires off and they're this long and we go to put a switch in what am i supposed to do with that oh it pisses electricians off [Music] so there's actually a code for this there's actually rules for how short you can put conductors some people i seriously like i've had homeowners that have wired stuff like this and then you go in and you try to bend hooks and it's like i can't get in you know you've got drywall up here you might have a cabinet in front of you you might have all kinds of stuff how am i supposed to strip this stuff out and work on it stop doing this so what does code actually say about it [Music] all right so if we open up our code books we've got 300.14 it says length of free conductors at outlets junctions and switch points it says at least six inches of free conductor measured from the point in the box where it emerges from its raceway or cable sheath so six inches from the back of the box where it emerges into the box shelby left at each outlet junction and switch point for splices or the connection of lumineers or devices so this is the same thing for outlet boxes lighting outlet boxes so when we say outlet we're not talking about receptacle the receptacle is the part that you install here to plug into this is just an outlet it's a place where you can take power out from uh it is outletting power where the opening to an outlet junction or switch point is less than eight inches in any dimension each conductor shall be long enough to extend at least three inches from the outside of the opening so even if you have some more shallow boxes or deep boxes if there's not eight inches in any dimension for you to be able to stick your hand inside to work on that then you have to be three inches outside of this so a lot of places where you're gonna see this come into play this whole three inch thing is when we start twisting our grounds together so when you're starting to make ready a device or some of us call it ripping out because you're ripping the sheathing off of the wires and you're getting everything tied together and pushing in the box so that they can put drywall and then you come in put devices later when we're doing that we're going to twist these grounds together some people you know do it a dozen different ways but if you use let's say like a green wire nut you can actually cut these right here cut one of them off and now you only have one wire to put on your device on your device screw but this conductor that i just cut right here is now really short so is that okay to do or not well we just said we have to be three inches from the front of the box right so if i go right here oh it's three inches exactly well i mean i guess if i stretched it a little bit it's like two and seven eighths so technically that wouldn't be code i would have to have that conductor three inches so always be really careful when you're doing this you got to make sure when this thing is fully extended out that you've got three inches of conductor to work with if you have a box that's less than eight inches in any dimension otherwise the typical rule of thumb is all of these rest of these conductors we just need to be six inches from the back of the box where it emerges from a sheath so usually how i get my depth is i will take my finger if it's coming from the top and i'll push this all the way back in the back of that box down at the bottom then i'll take it with my fingers and i'll roll it up to accordion at one time up into the top of the box and then right where it meets down at the bottom that's where i'm gonna cut it so i know that this will fold in there perfectly and when i take that out i know that i've got more than six inches it's probably going to be about six inches from the front of the box actually it's more than that seven inches from the front of the box a little over 10 inches to the back of the box so you know that that's enough you don't have to do more you don't have to leave these things a foot long again it kind of helps when you're doing multi-gang switches things where you're going to have to have like pigtails or if you've got like lutron devices or you've got any kind of lighting control radio raw stuff like that where you're going to need a pigtail a neutral on things like that you just have to be mindful of how short you're cutting everything in the back of the box the reason that this is such a big deal is because when we go into work on stuff and we can't get inside of here there might be like a cabinet or countertop in here and there might be one up here we might be like stuck next to a fridge or something and we can't do anything with these short wires we can't install a switch if you leave everything short like there you can't even like pull something out to put a device on it so just make sure any of you non-electricians as well maybe like handymen handy women diy electrical people it shouldn't be diy and in the electrical field in my opinion i know you're gonna do it anyways but just make sure that you're following code with the work that you do and don't cut the wires off i know some people are like oh well i want to recycle you know like every little bit you recycle one little piece of wire and you're gonna get like a tenth of a cent maybe if anything it's okay to to go overboard and leave a little bit more conductor inside of the box um what the problem is with that though is it tends to get in the way so when you have like large gfci devices or things like that that you're putting in usb receptacles things especially like gfci's with usb receptacles radio raw uh dimmers things like that you want to have as much space in this box as possible so there's kind of a happy line that's why i think going with this hole like fold it down fold it up fold it in thing is the best length another kind of tip is you don't have to use red wire nuts for number 12. there's white or gray wire nuts you could use you could use yellow wire nuts and the smaller wire nuts that you use when you're starting to put bigger devices in they actually save you a lot of space so the reds are just kind of oversized you don't really need to use those now if you'd like to watch a video on how i actually rip out all of these and get them prepped for a switch from beginning to end i've got a great video right here if you want to watch the same exact thing just for receptacles i've got another video here where i get everything ready folded in the box and that way it's ready for when you come back to trim off the devices so hope that helps in all of your endeavors love loving crazy people see you in the next one

Channel: Electrician U

Views: 120,112

Keywords: electrician, electrical, electricity, dustin stelzer, construction, commercial, residential, electrical courses, electrician courses, electrical class, electrician class, electrician school, master electrician, electrician life, electrician day in the life, from a journeyman, skilled trades, journeyman tips, electrical contractor, electrician jobs, customers questions, power issues, terms of trade, cutting wire shelf, wires too short, national electrical code 2020

Id: Z4lvxOqCYNQ

Length: 6min 36sec (396 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 18 2022