ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Wire nuts

Jim, this is the first I've heard of these Seems like a great idea to save the fingers.
http://www.scru-it.com/index.html

Roger

[This message has been edited by Roger (edited 10-23-2003).]

You wouldn't think there would be so much info on a product type thats basically taken for granted.

On my last job site we were using T&B Marrettes (red & yellow). Original appeal was the knurled nut driver included with each 1000 count bag so they could be installed by cordless drill.

About halfway through this job a bag of Ideal's tan Twisters showed up - no turning back. They fit in a 5/16" (?) nut driver, so they're both hand and power-tool friendly. They fit a broader range or wires that the T&B product, and the wings are easy on the hands for manual twisting.

On this jobsite were using push-ins exclusively. No more sore fingers, less shoddy splices, and the splicing speed is up I can't think of the brand right now, but they look similar to these:
http://www.idealindustries.com/wt/IdcPushin.nsf

Everyone should have one of these strapped to your side
http://www.idealindustries.com/wt/ApplicationSystems.nsf

I noticed on the Scru-it ad that on the joint they were demostrating the wires were twisted together way beyond the wire nut. The first journeyman I worked for didn't twist wires, but when he saw that I had started doing it he made it clear that the correct way to twist wires was not to allow the twisting to go beyond the joint itself. I have opened j boxes that had the wires all twisted up under a joint and beyond, taking all of the conductor up. The only problem I had with it was untwisting a wire that I was removing from the joint. Do you have an opinion on twisting the wires together beyond the joint? Any reasoning why you shouldn't? Perhaps it creates magnetism thru a being a coil or something?

I did my apprenticeship in St Paul Minnesota back in the late 70s. Naturally there was a big trade-wide push there to use scotch-locs. From the voice of scotch-loc experience, you do get use to them LOL.

From the site Roger linked to:


How does it do that? Does it add more hours to the day?

Once upon a time when there were no wirenuts the electrician used solder, rubber, and friction tape.

You may have seen them in old work where building were wired early in the 1930's?




[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 10-28-2003).]

There are some foolish people that still use the method Joe cited.

I was once replacing a faulty dimmer in the bedroom in my old flat (with a filtered one that wouldn't wreak havoc with my AM radio reception) .

Whoever had installed the old dimmer didn't bother using the Marrettes that are INCLUDED in the package. They twisted the conductors together and taped up the splices with silver DUCT TAPE!!!

My house had this kind of splices throughout (built in '51). It was also done entirely with BX cable

[This message has been edited by u2slow (edited 10-30-2003).]

I had an outside pole light that quit working. It tested 120V at the socket but would not light up any bulb I put in there. I opened up the switch inside and found that the previous owner had just twisted the wires together and taped them. They were making just enough contact to give me a reading but not enough to light the bulb. He was an engineer and had several cobbled up electrical projects around the house.