Probably because the link is not rated to carry the load of the connected outlet and the external outlet.

 

The pigtail method has a lot of advantages:
a) It's easier to fix the outlet live
b) Problems with the outlet itself don't impact downstream.
c) The bar between the outlets has to be rated for fault current.

I miss the Idealindustries termanuts.

 

Max

Max

Since I used a duplex beaker (two minis in one slot) they are not out of phase.

DCBINGERMAN YOU ARE RIGHT!!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I had often done this with 2 adjacent breakers which is ok. BUT NOT WITH A DUPLEX. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER in fact I do but did not think about it.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Happy to help

 

dcbingaman

Once again thank you. I will of course fix MY mistake.

But I could not sleep - My wiring was an add-on to a sub-panel in my workshop. But as I lay in bed Ikept thinking about the Main panel with 8 duplex breakers the licensed electrician installed when the house was built 6 years ago. I quietly got out of bed so as not to alarm the wifey and opened the main panel up.

At first look all is ok as he put the two black wires each from two different 14-3 or 12-3 cables into one duplex breaker and the two reds into the ADJACENT duplex breaker. Therefore the neutral wire would in the case of two 15 or 20 amp loads see a net of zero amps as they are out of phase.

In the morning I will carefully double check that the blacks and the reds are correctly wired to adjacent breakers (i.e. make sure that the black from cable A goes to an ODD duplex breaker and the red goes to an EVEN).

Thank You one more time for catching this hopefully I have convinced you that I have fully absorbed your lesson with my checking of the main panel.

BTW My understanding (from my pop who wrote books on Power Supplies) was that this is called an Edison Circuit. He convinced me years ago that it was safe if wired correctly and as I said I have done it before in another house. But now seeing it in practice and how easy it is to make a mistake like I did or accidently run the black and the red both to an even or odd breaker makes me think this requires extra vigilence.

Happy to be able to help someone on the Forum. The forum has helped me on many occasions. Glad I can give back some. You are very welcome. Be safe.