will this burn the house down? question

if I'm understanding you right you are wire netting 3 #12 wires together? if so, as I am understanding and assuming its a 120volt circuit they should be wire netted separately. you would be tying a hot wire to a neutral to a ground. that is bad and a potential fire hazard that should trip the breaker as soon as it's turned on. If you are just needing to keep this cicuit with no power on the outlet itself wire nutting all three wires seperately should suffice. the only thing is if the inspector checks the circuit for power on that perticular outlet and finds none that may through up a red flag to him and he would wanna know why the outlet is dead.

everybody had good answers, no i did not combine hots and neutrals together, i simply combined the blacks together(power), then the whites(commons) then the grounds (unsheathed) separately. My question was more in the manner of " does anyone know if I can wire nut 3-12g wires?" (i have only seen two together, never three) i used yellow wire nuts which seemed large enuf , they are nice and tight. I would have put a cover on the box to more or less make it a junction, but I didn't want to draw attention to it for the inspector. I'm a by the book kind of guy so it kills me that i did this, but the panel should be done within the next two weeks. Originally, I stuck a plug on the romax and had it plugged in but that really looked like an accident ready to happen and i couldn't leave it like that for an inspection. (everything is copper, in fact i replaced the only alum 220 a couple days ago with 10/3, it's a 30 amp dryer outlet used for a 19.5a mig welder, i replaced the receptacle with a 6-50R) walt > Other posts seem to think you combined hot, neutral, and ground, all together > in the nut. If you did that, of course, you'd be the nut. But since you are > referring to getting a dishwasher working, I'm assuming you tapped into the > outlet, which is not at the end of the series, to get juice. I'm assuming, > and hoping, you wired hot-hot-hot in one nut, neutral-neutral-neutral in the > next nut, and of course absolutely wired ground-ground-ground in the third. > > First question is why couldn't you just put a plug on the dishwasher wire? > Then run the dedicated circuit to an outlet of its own and move the plug > over when it gets put in. > > Are all these wires copper? If any are aluminum, you have issues (house burn > down issues, too). Never tie aluminum to copper. And even if you are doing > all aluminum, special handling has to be done to tie them together. > > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If done properly, wire nutting 3 #12's together in a box will cause no problem. With respect to your particular situation - can't say, without looking at it. You might have exceeded box fill limits, kinked some wires, nicked the insulation, overloaded the circuit - etc.
I guess the real problem is that you don't feel 100% confident about the wiring you did. Unfortunately, it may be possible that your lack of confidence is well founded. Perhaps the only way you'll know for sure is to have a pro look it over.

| Hey everybody, here's my question: I needed to tap in to an outlet | temporarily. The outlet is in a series, so I bypassed the outlet and wire | nutted three 12g wires together and "hid" them in the box. I screwed the | outlet back in the box disconected. The reason I did this is because I'm | having my service changed and my kitchen was remodeled with a new dishwasher | and I don't have a dedicated breaker for this appliance. Once it's installed | and inspected, I am going to run it to it's dedicated breaker. So in short, | will joining three 12 g wires with wire nuts in an outlet box cause a | potential fire?
Other posts seem to think you combined hot, neutral, and ground, all together in the nut. If you did that, of course, you'd be the nut. But since you are referring to getting a dishwasher working, I'm assuming you tapped into the outlet, which is not at the end of the series, to get juice. I'm assuming, and hoping, you wired hot-hot-hot in one nut, neutral-neutral-neutral in the next nut, and of course absolutely wired ground-ground-ground in the third.
First question is why couldn't you just put a plug on the dishwasher wire? Then run the dedicated circuit to an outlet of its own and move the plug over when it gets put in.
Are all these wires copper? If any are aluminum, you have issues (house burn down issues, too). Never tie aluminum to copper. And even if you are doing all aluminum, special handling has to be done to tie them together.

Any electrical work performed by other than a professional electrician is a potential for fire.

| everybody had good answers, no i did not combine hots and neutrals together, | i simply combined the blacks together(power), then the whites(commons) then | the grounds (unsheathed) separately. My question was more in the manner of " | does anyone know if I can wire nut 3-12g wires?" (i have only seen two | together, never three) i used yellow wire nuts which seemed large enuf , | they are nice and tight. I would have put a cover on the box to more or less | make it a junction, but I didn't want to draw attention to it for the | inspector. I'm a by the book kind of guy so it kills me that i did this, but | the panel should be done within the next two weeks. Originally, I stuck a | plug on the romax and had it plugged in but that really looked like an | accident ready to happen and i couldn't leave it like that for an | inspection. (everything is copper, in fact i replaced the only alum 220 a | couple days ago with 10/3, it's a 30 amp dryer outlet used for a 19.5a mig | welder, i replaced the receptacle with a 6-50R)
At least with a plug on it, you can unplug it for the inspection. I don't know how a plug can be "an accident ready to happen" if done right. Why is an inspection being done before the work is finished?

Correction: Any electrical work is a potential for fire.
Professional electricians have no corner on safe practices, nor are they somehow safe because they're "professional electricians". Indeed many are worse than the kid down the block.

| Any electrical work performed by other than a professional electrician is a | potential for fire.
Just as is work performed by many an electrician that claims to be professional.
Really, anything has a potential for fire. Diligence on the part of who is doing the work I think has a lot more to do with safety than whether one has the license. It's just that among those without, there is a lot less real life experience, while among those with a license, many forget those experiences.
Based on my own experiences, my preference is to let an electrician do the major work, but supervise everything and inspect personally, before the real inspector does it. Minor things I can do for myself.

| Correction: Any electrical work is a potential for fire. | | Professional electricians have no corner on safe practices, nor | are they somehow safe because they're "professional | electricians". Indeed many are worse than the kid down the | block.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing in the hands of a fool. And you can find them in any industry.

Absolutely! "Professional" simply means they've taken someone's money. It does *not* mean that the appropriate services were rendered.