Electrical Code – Is It Against Code to Splice Wires Inside the Load Center

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So I was working on breaking a tandem 15A single-pole breaker into two 15A single pole breakers, one being a Combination AFCI. After getting the panel open and moving one circuit to a new, 15A single pole (non-CAFCI), I discovered that my second circuit, the one I want on the CAFCI, has too short of a neutral wire to reach the CAFCI breaker's neutral screw. It looks to have been shortened to be just long enough to reach the neutral bus bar.

Is it against code to splice/pigtail a new, short piece of romex onto the existing neutral (w/ a wire cap) so I can connect it to the CAFCI's neutral screw?

Edit: Just for completeness, this relates to this question. I was replacing the AFCI receptacle with a CAFCI breaker, on the advice of an electrician, when I encountered this short neutral wire inside the panel. The electronics and sensing apparatus inside of an actual CAFCI breaker have been around long enough that most of the kinks have been worked out. The Leviton AFCI Receptacle, OTOH, is still fairly new and might not be usable in all wiring configurations yet.

Best Answer

National Electrical Code 2011

Chapter 3 Wiring Methods and Materials

Article 312 Cabinets, Cutout Boxes, and Meter Socket Enclosures

I. Installation

312.8 Switch and Overcurrent Device Enclosures with Splices, Taps, and Feed- Through Conductors. The wiring space of enclosures for switches or overcurrent devices shall be permitted for conductors feeding through, spliced, or tapping off to other enclosures, switches, or overcurrent devices where all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The total of all conductors installed at any cross section of the wiring space does not exceed 40 percent of the cross-sectional area of that space.

(2) The total area of all conductors, splices, and taps installed at any cross section of the wiring space does not exceed 75 percent of the cross-sectional area of that space.

(3) A warning label is applied to the enclosure that identifies the closest disconnecting means for any feed-through conductors.

This is the applicable code section. It used to say no splices were allowed unless there is enough room. This led many, many folks to simply state "NO splices allowed". They were wrong. You'd be amazed at what it would physically take to reach that 75% number of fill.

So basically yes, splices are FINE in a breaker panel.

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