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Posted By: electure A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 11:29 AM
Quote
Noticed carpenters having trouble with their “plug in GFI unit” on a job I am in the process of demo, and starting rough. An outlet in one of the walls to remain seemed to give them trouble… Thought I would take a peek at it, after I hooked up proper temp power. Found this on a K&T fed outlet, I expect I will find more… Original K&T wiring through-out, and all of the outlets are 3-prong….

Mark Heller (e57)


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[This message has been edited by electure (edited 08-11-2005).]
Posted By: iwire Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 02:39 PM
Its all good, they used green wire.
Posted By: SvenNYC Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 04:35 PM
What was the point of doing that?

Considering how tough it is to bend tiny lengths of wire like that.

I guess they confused the terms "grounding conductor" versus "groundED conductor"? [Linked Image]

Ahhh...I see it's one of those cheapie 50 cent Lowe's specials from Cooper/Eagle Electric. Those are always good for some laughs.

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 08-11-2005).]
Posted By: n1ist Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 05:04 PM
That tricks the 3-bulb tester into showing that the outlet has a ground.
Posted By: circuit man Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 09:05 PM
sven, what's so bad about these 50cent outlets? i use them all the time & have never had a problem with there quality or performance. now the levition ones i just toss in the trash , because they really are junk!
Posted By: e57 Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/11/05 11:43 PM
Yep, the whole house! Some even fed Wiremoldy with it making the same type of contact, placing that neutral current right out there to play with.

All of the outlets are fairly new, adding GFI's was legal, (still is) and former owners sold this place for about $1.2M, they had the money to do it that way. Just some jerk either didn't know, or cheaped out. I'll opt for didn't know...
Posted By: SvenNYC Re: A New Use for the Back Stab - 08/12/05 02:07 PM
Circuitman:

My problem with the 50 cent outlets is that the contacts do loose their spring-action over a short period of time.

The Cooper blue-backs aren't as bad as the equivalent "residential grade" Levitons that Home Depot sells. Those REALLY don't last at all!

I saw the 50 cent Levitons used in an office/institutional environment that was renovated about four years ago.

Shortly after it opened, some of the sockets were already broken in half and dangling inside the box.

I prefer either the spec-grade Cooper grey-backs or - even better - the ones made by Bryant/Hubbell, when I can find those. [Linked Image]
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