That's exactly what I was referring to in my earlier post. It appeared to me that those wires I pointed out were 14 AWG & 12 AWG. However, by looking at and comparing their diameters relative to each other, they now appear to be 12 AWG & 10 AWG but 10 AWG wire is only NEC ampacity rated at 30 Amps and a 40 Amp breaker requires 8 AWG wire. As Tom & Ron noted, a 50 Amp circuit requires 6 AWG wire.
The danger is two fold, one voltage should not be there, you become the path if grounded. Second issue on a split phase system (commonly called single phase, the last time I saw a poly phase was in Philadelphia in the late 1990’s they had a few areas that hadn’t been updated yet) if there is any load on the circuit the voltage can be as high as the systems total voltage. On a 227V system the potential becomes 480V.
I will double-check on that main wire gauge today. But the 240v breaker is now 20A - and I'm pretty sure because I bought it myself (though it did cost $40).
Black tape on white wire - good point. Seems that I forgot about that. Will do that later today. And to your point about the 40A, it was changed to a 20A yesterday.
There you go...that's looking better.
Per the NEC that NM should be a 12/3. The NEC allows tape ID for conductors 4ga or larger. That said, most AHJ’s have amended the code to allow tape ID on smaller wires. Yes that should have red tape on it at both ends as long as your AHJ has amended the adopted code.
I had to look that up as we don't have any term like that for mains work here in OZ. They seem an absolutely terrible idea to save a fraction of time?
I'm a little surprised the insurance companies haven't rallied against stab-ins to have the codes revised to remove them?
The insert/pressure connections are NEC approved for 15 amp circuits and must have a “listing” to be used on an inspected job in the US. By having a listing it indicates the device was tested to a pretty rigorous standard.
