What to do with unneeded NM conductors?

[Noah Katz]

I'm updating my kitchen wiring and I believe the in-ceiling ventilation fan needs to be AFCI-protected.

To accomplish this electrically all I need to do is pigtail into the hot wire of one of outlets on the load side of the AFCI outlet.

Can I just clip off the unused neutral and ground wires at both ends where the sheath ends, or do I need to wire them in normally (they would be redundant)?

Doing the latter would bring the allowable conductor volume just up to the limit and make stuffing all of the wires into the box even more of a struggle.

 

[Megawatt]

I'm updating my kitchen wiring and I believe the in-ceiling ventilation fan needs to be AFCI-protected.

To accomplish this electrically all I need to do is pigtail into the hot wire of one of outlets on the load side of the AFCI outlet.

Can I just clip off the unused neutral and ground wires at both ends where the sheath ends, or do I need to wire them in normally (they would be redundant)?

Doing the latter would bring the allowable conductor volume just up to the limit and make stuffing all of the wires into the box even more of a struggle.

Noah kitchens need to be GFCI Protected, all other rooms need AFCI Protection with the exception of the laundry room which needs to be GFCI Protected
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Noah kitchens need to be GFCI Protected, all other rooms need AFCI Protection with the exception of the laundry room which needs to be GFCI Protected

If all you need is 1 conductor I suppose you could use one wire out of the NM just make sure the white wire is taped and it’s never a bad idea to go ahead and hook up the ground wire
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Noah kitchens need to be GFCI Protected, all other rooms need AFCI Protection with the exception of the laundry room which needs to be GFCI Protected

If all you need is 1 conductor I suppose you could use one wire out of the NM just make sure the white wire is taped and it’s never a bad idea to go ahead and hook up the ground wire

 

[Noah Katz]

@Megawatt

Noah kitchens need to be GFCI Protected, all other rooms need AFCI Protection with the exception of the laundry room which needs to be GFCI Protected

Yes, actually I'm using AFCI/GFCI outlets.

If all you need is 1 conductor I suppose you could use one wire out of the NM just make sure the white wire is taped

That occurred to me but I figured that removing the protective sheathing would violate code.

 

[Megawatt]

@Megawatt



Yes, actually I'm using AFCI/GFCI outlets.




That occurred to me but I figured that removing the protective sheathing would violate code.

Noah to my knowledge there is no code on using 1 single conductor. Good luck

 

[davesparks]

To accomplish this electrically all I need to do is pigtail into the hot wire of one of outlets on the load side of the AFCI outlet.

Can I just clip off the unused neutral and ground wires at both ends where the sheath ends, or do I need to wire them in normally (they would be redundant)?

How does the extractor get it ground and neutral? The neutral must come from the same circuit as the hot.
I can't speak for the rules in the USA but common sense says you would always connect the ground conductor.

The best thing to do with any unused conductor is to connect it to ground (earth), especially if its in a cable with other conductors which are in use.

 

[Megawatt]

How does the extractor get it ground and neutral? The neutral must come from the same circuit as the hot.
I can't speak for the rules in the USA but common sense says you would always connect the ground conductor.

The best thing to do with any unused conductor is to connect it to ground (earth), especially if its in a cable with other conductors which are in use.

That’s what I told him Dave