ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Is this really a thing

I am watching a lot of videos of handy shop tricks and most seem to be coming from Europe or Oz/NZ based on the wire colors and equipment. They consistently show mains voltage wires twisted together and taped or shrink wrapped with no splicing device. Is that legal there?
When I watch, I always assume they will solder them or something but nope, just twisted and taped. Some of the splicing ideas are cool, particularly with the stranded wire but I would want to solder it.

In my overseas experience, connections were always to screws. In place of wire nuts free-floating terminal strips (“Choc blocks”) with shielied screws were used. (1980’s)

The last years Wago seems to be the most popular way of doin that, ofcourse and inside a box. Personally I would have soldered some of those splices, but that is not OK to the last version of our codes anymore. We may ofcourse have such ideas as mine, but the only right thin is to follow the code. We have higher risk of fire here with wooden buildings.

Spotted those ‘tips’ when I googled. There’s some very dubious and dangerous DIY ‘tips’ online.

Those videos look like they might be from Russia or similar. A lot of places use CENELEC or IEC approved devices and colour schemes, but it doesn’t mean they follow the full standards.

Twisting wires together and heat shrinking insulation with a cigarette lighter wouldn’t be remotely acceptable here, or in any EU country any more than it would be in the US.

You have to use approved connectors, the exact type may vary a bit, especially in older wiring, as national regulations were less harmonised, but they were all generally safe and fairly conservative systems.

Mostly these days they use WAGO or similar type maintenance free devices or terminal blocks with screw down, clamping connections. The blocks are can be plastic or ceramic, depending on the application and housed inside a junction box.