Originally Posted by
Trent Tarter
Yesterday's inspection had a 14-3 wire in the service panel with both red and white wires connected to the neutral bus bar. This appears to be a 15 amp lighting circuit. I am a little confused on why this was done.
Hi Trent,
First up, the red insulated wire has two NEC code violations. The first, Article [200.6]Means of Identifying Grounded Conductors 6 AWG and smaller shall have continuous white or gray insulation outer finish. (The picture nicely shows the red conductor doing the violating in a Main Disconnect Panel (SQ D) neutral grounded terminal bar that must also be bonded to the Equipment Grounding terminal bar.)
Second, as mentioned about both 14 AWG ends being tied together in the same 14-3 cable (raceway) is in violation of Article [310.4] where conductors smaller than 1 AWG are not permitted to be connected in parallel.
As Petey, (AKA Speedy) mentioned, these are both non-compliant to the NEC and I might add, IRC requirements regardless of being residential or commercial environments. As for why, I have no idea why this was done, other than for maybe reasons given by another aforementioned post response. I hope this helps. rbj