If worse came to worse, I may remove the outlet/pigtail and keep the wires capped and put a blank cover on it.

This outlet is in such a place its not needed and at this point is only used for a nightlight. Better than ripping up tile and drywall to put in a larger box.

Am I overreacting? Should I do this for safety reasons?

Get rid of the pig tails and simply feed through the line side of the GFCI. The pigtails don't technically count against box fill but they do take up valuable room in small boxes.

How big of a deal is this?

My intentions were good, to clean up the connections and get rid of a 20A GFCI on a 15A circuit. But by snipping the looped wire (which i know is not a good method of wiring an outlet, is it against code now?) I have increased the box fill in an already crowded switch box with a fat GFCI in it and stuffed it all together with little room to spare (esp. on the sides next to the terminal screws).

I know the inspectors arent going to be knocking on my door but its the principal of the matter.... keeping it as is against code (and I have worked dillegently to correct other code violations thru the years I have found)

So I capped the wires and installed a blank plate until I can figure this out.

Would 99 percent of people or electricians for that matter just feed thru the gfci and stuff it all back together?? What would you do?

And another question. Now that I capped the wires, I probably made it more of a hack job... is doing this a realible and safe PERMANENT solution?

Edit: Thought I had a idea but turned out I was wrong :/

7/6 seems like it could be worse? Receptacle installs flush without too much cramming I would just go with it as long as you have everything taped up good. Inspector might even let it go if its a old work where you dont really have much choice?

If the loop that you cut was 12" long (6+6) it already counted as two conductors anyway.

Also if your device (nightlight or whatever) has two screws like a duplex outlet, you can connect your cut loop wires to each screw and skip the pigtail/nut and save room that way.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by h82fail on Fri, Oct 4, 13 at 10:16

And if it wasn't 12" long, it's too short 300.14.

sorry double post.

This post was edited by h82fail on Fri, Oct 4, 13 at 11:29

If it wasnt stuffing a fat GFCI into the switch box I could ditch the pigtails and feed thru and feel more comfortable... but still against the rules.

Do hardwired nighlights (the ones that fit in decora) have smaller yokes than a GFCI? Would it have to be GFCI protected? (above a bathroom sink). How about the ability to feed thru?

If I broke down and cut around tile to get at the box to get a mudring in there, (do they have them the size of a switchbox?) how many exta #14's is that worth?

And again, am I over thinking this? Would the average electrician or homeowner just stuff it all back together either not checking boxfill numbers or blatantly disregarding them (as it would be in my case). ??

Was a GFCI ever intended to fit into a small (3x2x2.5) switch box? Where I could barely stick a tip of screwdriver between the box and the side of the device?

The only thing that are outright required to be GFCI protected in the bathroom other than the receptacles and certain (usually wet area) lights/fans when the manufacturer so mandates.

You're in some sort of hideous grandfather situation anyhow because it's not legal to wire up bathroom receptacles on 15A (implied by the 14G wiring) circuits in any recent version of the code.

You're only answer here is to either get a bigger box or just remove the device and put a cover over it (provided whatever is downstream of the GFCI doesn't require that protection).

I've never seen a "mud ring" for a single gang box nor a capacity stamped on a box extender, so I doubt you're going to kludge any additional capacity here.

This post was edited by ronnatalie on Fri, Oct 4, 13 at 12:43

I guess i dont feel as bad if you say the looped wire counted as two already. (although I doubt there was 12 inches of it in the box.

The looped wire if it is connected to a device counts as TWO no matter how long it is. The "only counts as one" are for wires that pass through the box without a connection that are less than 12" long.

It's also illegal not to have 6" of free wire in the box to connect to a device. If your looped wire is shorter than 12", then your wires are too short to connect to a device as well.

Some complete idiot did a number on you here.