A pigtail is a short jumper, usually 6 to 8 inches, spliced together with the circuit conductors so a single wire lands on the device. Pigtailing keeps the rest of the circuit intact when a device is removed, and code requires it for grounds and for the neutrals of multiwire branch circuits. Pigtails also tie the ground to a metal box with a green screw, and the word covers factory leads on fixtures and cord-and-plug sets on appliances.
Pigtail the neutrals on that shared circuit, don't feed through the receptacle, the inspector checks for it.
Also heard as
- tail
Related terms
Make up
To splice, pigtail and fold the wires in a box so it is ready for a device or cover.
Wire nut
Twist-on connector with a tapered spring inside, used to splice two or more wires together in a box.
MWBC
Multiwire branch circuit: two or three hot conductors on different phases sharing one neutral.
Bond
Connection that ties metal parts together so they stay at one potential and give fault current a path home.
Same word, different worlds
A short jumper wire spliced into a group of conductors so they can share a single terminal.
Boilers & BurnersA looped siphon pipe between a steam boiler and its pressure gauge or control, filled with condensate to block live steam.
Fiber OpticsA short fiber with a factory connector on one end and bare fiber on the other, spliced onto a cable to terminate it.