Guys - I'm not looking to pick a fight here but comments about "backstab" receptacle connections piqued my interest. I'm a packrat when it comes to tools and hardware and I managed to dig up 18 used 15Amp receptacles in conditions ranging from like new to pretty ragged looking. I also have way too much time on my hands.
Anyway I decided to test the backstabs. All of them are the old style spring type. I put a 14 ga wire (stripped correctly) into one backstab hole on each receptacle and tried to pull it out. I could not get any to fail. I'm no Charles Atlas, but I ain't a wimp either. I know I was pulling at least 30-40 lbs.
While I understand that spring tension may decrease over time. I have 3 outlets in my shed that I wired to the backstabs. That was 20 years ago and tomorrow I'm gonna' take them out and test them the same way. I doubt if there will be any failures.
My questions are - If these things fail so much why doesn't the NEC disallow their use? Why does UL continue to list them if the design is inherently unsafe? More importantly, how many of you have really found a correctly assembled backstab that failed vs just passing on what they were taught/told?
Anyway I decided to test the backstabs. All of them are the old style spring type. I put a 14 ga wire (stripped correctly) into one backstab hole on each receptacle and tried to pull it out. I could not get any to fail. I'm no Charles Atlas, but I ain't a wimp either. I know I was pulling at least 30-40 lbs.
While I understand that spring tension may decrease over time. I have 3 outlets in my shed that I wired to the backstabs. That was 20 years ago and tomorrow I'm gonna' take them out and test them the same way. I doubt if there will be any failures.
My questions are - If these things fail so much why doesn't the NEC disallow their use? Why does UL continue to list them if the design is inherently unsafe? More importantly, how many of you have really found a correctly assembled backstab that failed vs just passing on what they were taught/told?