Splice in service panel

Something just dosn’t seem right with this…:neutral:

Sorry, here’s the pic.

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This may help I blew it up a little. The other pic was a little small.

P7020030.jpg

Wow!

What is the ocp upstream of that splice?

tom

The conductor sizes don’t match. What size was the breaker?

Generally, splices within the panel are not a problem, but this one could certainly be an exception.

What about the 12 grounding conductors under one nut?

Could not locate the other end. Connected to a 20A breaker. Here’s another pic.

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This whole panel was an adventure.

I bet a dollar that is an old range circuit converted to a 120v/20A receptacle/circuit for a new gas range. The big #6 does not fit on a 20A breaker so you have to pigtail a piece of #12.

This is done all the time and I think it is stupid.

I agree. While this is not a “normal” thing to see, it’s certainly compliant as it is pictured. Someone repurposed existing heavy gauge wire for use on a 20 amp circuit. They just pigtailed on a piece of #12, as they should have, to get it compliantly landed on a 20 amp breaker. In addition to the range circuit Speedy mentioned, parking lot lights are often done this way too. They’ll run something heavy to prevent voltage drop, like some #6, then pigtail on a piece of #12 to land it on the 20 amp breaker.

I dunno. I’ve done it where it would be too destructive to run a whole new piece of wire.

I do agree. That’s about the only time though.

Quite often we see folks asking how to do this simply to save a few bucks. I say, why canibalize a perfectly good 50A circuit if it is easy to run a new 20A circuit?

I did it too. New construction, the plans were for an electric oven. After running the wire, client opted for a gas one. Heck they already paid for the wire, so it became a receptacle for the gas oven.

Also, I know many electricians who have done the same converting over electric stove/ovens to gas, because of rising electric bills.

tom

Agreed. I will always run a new piece if it’s pretty easy to do so. Might even be a cost savings in the end. It’s sorta a pain in the rear to make a heavy gauge conductor good for 20 amp.

lol…now guys just maybe they have a circuit running down to a post light some 250 yards away and they are just solving for voltage drop…;)…you just never know from a picture…lol

Yeah, we already talked about that. Better late than never, though.

lol…sorry Marc…Been kinda busy on late…lol