ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area NM In Wall Splice Connector

These things come and go. They have been around in the manufactured home community for over a decade. It is what they snap the modules together with. For a while AMP was selling these as the way to fix the 90c/<old>NM ceiling box problem.
After a lot of hubbub they removed the 336-21 (now 334.40) language from their ads. I think we went through this a year or so ago here and the language was gone, only the 551 reference. I see it is back.


[This message has been edited by gfretwell (edited 01-25-2006).]

Got called to a house today for a partial outage. I found these in the crawlspace. The one without the cover was the one causing the outage, what was scary was two of the others were arcing and smoking everytime I touched them, you can see the black spots where they were cooking. I cut all of them out and used 1900 boxes and wirenuts to repair, also got rid of the flying splices.









edited to size pic to screen and put on ECN server




[This message has been edited by electure (edited 01-28-2006).]

If you take a look at the instructions on page 27 you will see the fittings used in attic spaces and not in finished walls. I still think that they need to be better developed before they can be marketed.

In German-influenced countries there is only one way of legally doing this and that is using crimp connectors and filling the entire enclosure with some resin that will permanently enclose the splices and keep any moisture out. Then it is acceptable to be buried. Connections using screw terminals may not be buried at all.

We hide cables in the wall all the time, and only have a general requirement that _splices_ be accessible.

On the one hand, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that a _good enough_ splice in a cable would be as secure and safe as an equivalent length of cable, and thus should be safe enough to hide in the wall without access.

On the other hand, it seems to me that _these_ splices are not good enough

-Jon

My bad - I replied above that the ones I saw have screw conns.- they're push conn. like the ones in the photos.I'm going to ask the codes guy in town where these mod. units are going up to ban them. Didn't want to festoon the ceings w/ j-boxes, but I like sleeping well.

Just last week I sent an enquiry to UL about connectors like these being used on site built construction. They are UL listed for consealed work in walls.

The brand I checked on are listed for use ONLY in modular and manufactured homes.

The manufacturer of the splices does not make this clear in their literature.
If in doubt about the use check with the listing laboratory.
Alan--

Lone gunman:

I'd bet those flying splices were from previous connector failures. Probably done by a maint. guy or homeowner, as I would think any EC with standards would do exactly as you did, and remake tham all in 1900's with proper connections.

Kudos to you for doing the right thing!!

By the way, it looks like the main cause (other than crappy design) of the failures was corrosion.

Know what, I had a 12V trailer plug incinerate itself on my pickup because of a little salt and dampness getting in! God forbid it was a connector like what I see here in a damp location with 120V present!


-->Just a little trick I use when making up connections where dampness or water could be present: A little "No -Alox" or any other brand aluminum joint compound OR "Thomas and betts Cop-r Shield" on the connection and in the wire nut will greatly help preserve the connection, and keep any water and dirt out!

What is odd to me is the inconsistency this device creates.

They are saying this device which we all seem to agree on is of poor quality is good enough to bury in a wall. OK fine maybe it is.

At the same time an electrician can not make a proper high quality splice in a real electrical box and conceal it.

Why is one a safety issue and the other fine?

Bob



[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 01-29-2006).]