New outlets instead of pigtailing
 

Are there new outlets you can use instead of pigtailing?

Welcome to the forum !! Did your pigtails fall apart? No outlet has to have pigtails? Did you do the pigtailing? Please turn the breaker off! Was it by a cabinet? Is the ceiling fan on high or low? Was the TV on channel 48? help !

You can use any receptacle and connect to the terminal screws. I like the back wired ones (not back stabbed).

You will need to use pigtails on the grounds.

You also need to pigtail the neutrals on a MWBC.

note to the uninitiated MWBC is Electrician Talk for Multi-Wire Branch Circuit

FWIW in Ontario Canada you are required to pigtail the neutral and cannot use the two screws on the receptacle to pass along a neutral in the middle of a run.

I think it is to ensuring higher connection integrity on the neutral.

That is stupid... so what's the difference between loosing the neutral but not the hot? either way, something isn't going to work. :)

the reason for pigtailing the grounds and the neutral is so that if the device goes faulty you don't lose your bond conductor or your neutral. If you pull an open neutral at a receptacle along the way the fault will affect every plug or device downstream.

The neutral pigtail is sort of a grey area in Canada that the inspectors don't really look for. Depends on how you read the code on whether or not it is allowed. It is an absolute must on a MWBC. And as stated above on a 3 phase system it's a requirement for shared neutrals.

So whats the difference if you loose a grounded conductor or a hot conductor? either way, everything downstream is going to stop working. Meaning, loosing one vs the other is no more hazardous vs the other. This is not directed at MWBC.

Learn how to pigtail. Do it neatly and well.

yes your correct if the fault is in the lines, the reasoning is that if the device goes faulty then you don't affect the downstream plugs. Or say someone tears off the joining tab between screws. In a 3 phase system if you lose the neutral your looking at having a whole bunch of devices hooked up in series just as you would with a mwbc. But as i said it's a grey area, some inspectors say yes some say no. Personally i haven't found the reference in the code book to prove it has to be done on single circuit residential circuits.

So you are saying both the grounded and ungrounded conductors are pigtailed then, not just the grounded... that I can sort of swallow, but really, who cares if you loose one receptacle or ten? its not a hazard either way. It might be an inconvenience to say the least.

The guy who has to come in and troubleshoot the fault.
But usually the problem will still be limited to the J box where the device with the scorch marks is.

:) Aha!