Can I apply electronics knowledge to house wiring?

Question

In electronics work I would never trust twisting together 3-5 wires in a pigtail to be a secure connection. On a breadboard mere contact is enough, but in (permanent) PCB work a connection that's not soldered is a connection waiting for a hiccup.

Yet in electrical work one is content with a pigtail using a wire-nut.

Conversely again in electronics, using the two sides of a receptacle to extend a connection to another receptacle downstream is safe and reliable.

Once again, in electrical work this is against code.

Suppose I follow my hunch and my habit, pull out my soldering iron and leave the twisted wires behind a receptacle with a soldered connection, which I would still cover up with a wire-nut (though wrapping with tape should also be adequate and plenty safe).

I'd be going over and above convention for my own peace of mind, but I'm wondering. Can I apply electronics knowledge to house wiring?

Answer 1

Solder (with some very rare exceptions mostly having to do with knob&tube work) is forbidden in code because it causes problems. A wire nut is different than just "twisting some wires together." Soldering that is not "over and above" - when the connection overheats and the solder melts, the wirenut won't have proper compression and will fall off. Arcing will ensue.

Your assertion about receptacles is incorrect, or else you mean something other than what is normal standard practice using the screws on the sides of the receptacles. In the particular case of a MWBC, the neutral connections must be done with pigtails, for good reasons of electrical safety having to do with the specifics of a MWBC supplying 120V but having 240V potential available. Elsewhere (incuding the hots of a MWBC) it is normal and code compliant to connect to the downstream device from a set of screws on the upstream device.

Be very wary about "applying" low voltage electronics knowledge to line voltage house wiring. Indeed, be wary of applying line voltage electronics knowledge, if you have that, to house wiring. The issues are different in significant ways.