ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area # 12 Solid wire problem?????

I do a lot of residential rewiring and repair. Every once and a while I run into # 12 solid copper wire that is damn near impossible to bend. You pull the pigtails out of the box and re-work them and when you go to fold everything back in it does not want to co-operate!
The wire seems like it has some kind of alloy in it to make it harder or something. It's very hard to bend and twist together. Anybody notice this problem and know what the cause is?

The copper conductor was most likely not properly annealed. Not long ago, one supplier near me was selling some really large conductors for an exceptionally low price. Trouble was, the wire was so stiff that the labor to install it went up dramatically.

Tom

The difference between thhn, and nm..

I have run into romex that is not 100% copper. It is a copper/steel alloy and it definitely doesn't fold back into a box the way that pure copper does.

If you buy wire from places like menards or home depot.....always read the box label carefully to make sure you're getting what you think you are.

GJ