Can I Use Electrical Tape to Insulate a Nick on Wire


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Old 12-08-13, 06:42 PM
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Can I Use Electrical Tape to Insulate a Nick on Wire

This weekend I repaired some wiring. The wire was placed under, instead of over a water pipe leading to an outdoor spicket. Please see attached photo. I disconnected the wire nuts, and placed the wire above the water pipe.

When I was reconnecting the wires inside the box, I noticed that one of the white wires had a nick in its insulation such that I could see the copper. The nick was in between where the wire nut is placed and after where the white wire enters the box. I used electrical tape to cover the nicked part of the wire. It is a small nick, maybe 1/8 of an inch.

Is it ok for me to use the electrical tape? The wire does not have slack, so I could not cut off the nicked part of the wire and work from that point.

I just wanted to see if it should be ok. I replaced all the wire nuts and put the cover back over the box.

Thank you for your advice.
 
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Old 12-08-13, 06:51 PM
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Yes, taping it is fine, as long as the tape wraps around the conductor numerous times and completely covers the nick and make sure the tape is wrapped TIGHTLY, all too often do I see tape loose on a wire like this and it just slides off.. You may want to attach a ground wire to that metal box too to prevent anyone from getting shocked etc....
 
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Old 12-08-13, 06:58 PM
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Thank you for the feedback.

In regard to a ground wire, do I just connect a bare copper wire to both the box and to the other two bare copper wires?
 
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Old 12-08-13, 07:10 PM
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Yes, just use a bare copper conductor, or green if you have it, of the SAME SIZE as the conductors in the box. Put in a #10/32 ground screw, they're usually colored green too, and just wire nut all the grounds together. There should be a hole in the back of the box specifically for the ground screw, it's hard to tell in the pic...if not, they make clips that snap onto the side of the box that you put the wire under which bonds the box as we'll....
 
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Old 12-09-13, 08:20 AM
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The splice shown does not have enough conductor in the box. There should be at least 6 inches from each cable.

The ground needs to connect to the metal box. A tapped hole will accept a 10-32 screw.
 
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Old 12-09-13, 05:31 PM
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While I don't think it's against code, I think it's bad form to use a green wire nut on the hot conductors. Again, may not be against code, but I'd much rather use heat shrink tubing on the offensive nick. I've yet to see PVC tape last long (stick tightly) in a hot attic.
 
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Old 12-10-13, 06:04 AM
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The green wire but is only for use with the grounding conductors.
 
 

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