That master electrician told me to pigtail every neutral in a panel and I skipped 3 junctions

Came back to a flickering circuit on a commercial job in Tulsa 2 weeks later and those loose splices under a wire nut nearly cost me the whole contract, has anyone else had a shortcut backfire that bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

adams.taylor18d ago

That bit about "loose splices under a wire nut nearly cost me the whole contract" really hits home. I did something similar on a small resi job in Broken Arrow a few years back. I was rushing on a Friday afternoon and just twisted three neutrals together without a wire nut, figured it'd hold until Monday. Came back to find the homeowner's fridge cycling on and off and the living room lights doing a strobe effect. The whole strip of outlets was almost smoking because of the arcing from that loose connection. Learned my lesson the hard way: never skip the wire nut, and especially not on neutrals in a panel.

adams.taylor18d ago

Nah, you’re overthinking it. I’ve done similar stuff and it worked out fine. Those wire nuts are overkill half the time if you twist the wires tight enough and tape em. The master electrician was probably just covering his butt for code, not because it’s actually dangerous. I mean, how many old houses have you opened up where they just twisted wires and taped them for 30 years with no issues? A flickering circuit happens way more often from a bad breaker or a loose bus bar than a couple of neutrals you skipped. Sure, it’s not perfect, but acting like it’s gonna burn the place down is dramatic.