ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Office Troubleshoot

I disagree that this is evidence that Wago-style connectors are not any good.

Judging by some of the other things done in this office, I wouldn't be surprised to find attempts to take short-cuts by sharing neutrals. I have found neutrals combined in the j-boxes- which can easily lead to the neutrals overliading (especially when there are differing ampacity circuits involved!)

As far as this instance.. I'll agree with John as it being unfair to down the Wago connectors based on the BBQ'd neutral here... A 14 AWG wire with the amount of load that had been placed on it in this instance had to of gotten to some pretty lofty temperatures! Not to mention ambient temperature where this was, was well into the 100's F on a daily basis due to the machinery run here.. This actually says something for it's endurance, since it lasted at least 3 years.. (When the other "electrician" added load to the box in question, whether the Wago's were there before that, of he installed them, I couldn't say)...
As I said earlier, I never did locate the overcurrent protection governing the wiring in the burnt neutral pic... I just snipped it at another box to make sure no load would be put on the burnt connection... For all I know so far, this could be on a 100A breaker! & with the load it was carrying, finding it ending up at a 30 or 40 amp breaker wouldn't suprise me, or even finding 2 circuits/same phase bundled together someplace!
While troubleshooting I pretty much ruled out the "overlaid phasing" on the connection in question.. Disconnecting the 14/2 romex eliminated power to all the problem areas I spoke of earier...

-Randy

PS... Does this mean I think Wago's make a better connecton than a properly made up wirenut? Nope!, But Wago's seriously come in handy when I need to remake up a box that someone has left 2" of wire to work with in! Getting a wago on properly can be done... A wirenut? Hmmmmm.....