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drnewknee
Jan 19, 2009, 05:07 PM
The electrician pulled a red wire out of the panel box and into one of the bedrooms. There are no 240 volt outlets in the bedrooms. What is the reason for this and is it acceptable? We live in Florida. We have conduit in our house, not Romex. The bedroom has 1/2" EMT conduit. There are seven wires entering the first box from the panel box. They are all 12 AWG THHN: 2 black, 1 red, 3 white, and 1 green. Thank you for your response.

KISS
Jan 19, 2009, 05:24 PM
It's acceptable, but I would tape the ends black.

Wht/blk for 20 is done all the time, like in water heater wiring. In this case the ends of the wires should be taped red.

drnewknee
Jan 19, 2009, 05:42 PM
It's acceptable, but I would tape the ends black.

Wht/blk for 20 is done all the time, like in water heater wiring. In this case the ends of the wires should be taped red.

Thank you for your quick reply.

Follow-up question:

Why would he ever use red instead of black and then have to tape the ends black?

It makes no sense to me. Should I be concerned about anything else that he has done or is this something that it's done quite often by qualified electricians?

Thanks again!

Tev
Jan 19, 2009, 06:05 PM
The ends are not required to be taped black. Red is perfectly fine for a 120v circuit.
He probably used it because it's what he had on hand, or it was the last bit on the spool and wanted to use it up. I really wouldn't worry any more about his work than anybody else's work that I paid to have done.

KISS
Jan 19, 2009, 06:20 PM
I didn't say you had to. Red still has 120 with respect to neutral. He may have used it because he had it on hand and/or it allows one to identify the wires. You should not be concerned.

He also may have decided to take two circuits from 1 leg and 1 circuit from the other, hence the red.

In industrial settings, there usually is only black insulated wires. They are required to be taped the proper color.

drnewknee
Jan 20, 2009, 11:47 AM
Thanks Tev and KISS