Buried Treasure

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stickboy1375

stickboy1375

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Litchfield, CT
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Anyone else finding these buried in modular houses?
 
Yep, I find them all the time. They are always accessible (or they're supposed to be). They fail from time to time, because the romex is connected inside them with an insulation displacement connector. I keep a 2 wire and a 3 wire version (pass and seymour) on the truck for field replacements.
 
I have done a couple of modular homes with these connectors, usually in the attic space, and I make sure I keep them well above the insulation so someone can find them later. (also so they arent surronded by insulation if they fail). Although they are quicker, I prefer the old way of making j-boxes for the splices.
 
Those connectors are now being made and marketed by tyco electronics. They can be concealed in existing buildings. I could have used about 20 of them in a recent remodel which would have eliminated junction boxes for about 10 circuits. They are advertised in EC magazine. I know most people will scoff at them, but in certain applications, I'd use them.

edit: See 334.40B
 
j_erickson said:
Those connectors are now being made and marketed by tyco electronics. They can be concealed in existing buildings. I could have used about 20 of them in a recent remodel which would have eliminated junction boxes for about 10 circuits. They are advertised in EC magazine. I know most people will scoff at them, but in certain applications, I'd use them.

edit: See 334.40B
Click to expand...

This sounds crazy.They go bad but can be concealed but a junction box cant be.Looks to me like just a plug and receptacle.But then mobiles have done cheap wiring for as long as i can remember.
 
j_erickson said:
I know most people will scoff at them, but in certain applications, I'd use them.

edit: See 334.40B
Click to expand...
Indeed, they may be legal to use in that manner, but I would choose not to. I put these in the same category as backstabbing receptacles... legal but not always a good idea. I have replaced a number of these type connectors that have always failed in the same manner. The actual connector-to-connector interface stays fine. Where the insulation displacement prongs dig into the conductor, they heat up and fail. I'd be willing to bet that there are many 1000's of these type connectors sizzling away in homes across the US.
 
iwire said:
Yes in some applications you can.
Click to expand...
One prequalification seems to be that the cable has to be fished. I followed some ingenious sparky trying to use them for a kitchen remodel, where the layout was rearranged. He wanted to bury these at locations where the existing cables didn't reach the new intended locations. While the extentions from the old receptacle locations were fished, the existing cable onto which these modular home connectors were placed was stapled fast to the stud. This appears to be a violation of the code section sited above. I (think) the reason they only want you to use these on fished conductors is so that you can disconnect whatever it goes to at the far end, pull it back, and service the connector if need be. That's my guess anyhow. At any rate, these connectors have required service in the past, and there's no reason to think that they won't also need service into the future.
 
Marc, I've been trying to make sense of exactly what the phrase "concealed and fished" means. If I fish 2 cables to a small hole that I make, use this connector, and then conceal it, it seems that I meet the requirement of 334.40. If I could pull the connector out t service it, why would I need it in the first place?

I've never dealt with them, so I have no experience of them failing.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
This sounds crazy.They go bad but can be concealed but a junction box cant be.Looks to me like just a plug and receptacle.But then mobiles have done cheap wiring for as long as i can remember.
Click to expand...

Jim, I bet you still solder your splices.:D
 
Stickboy, these are UL listed and allowed by the NEC via the wording of 334.40(B). Note that the only time they can be concealled per 334.40(B) is when fished in existing buildings.

(The above is not inclusive of Manufactured or Mobile home industries)

Roger
 
I've used the tap version a couple of times when adding a wall-mounted TV receptacle to an existing receptacle circuit. They eleminated the need to fish to an existing box, or to add two J-boxes (for the slack) in an existing run.

I was careful stripping the existing run, and installed them hot. I wouldn't want to have an entire circuit's current passing through it, just like with stab-in connections, but for a limited load, such as a TV, I feel they're adequate.

And no, I wouldn't conceal them.
 
See (QAAV) in the UL White Book.
Remember that fittings such as this are tested when installed as per the instructions. How many of these actually fail due to improper installation procedures? Similar to other equipment failure rates in our industry.
 
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