Do you twist your solid wires together before you put them in a wirenut.

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Do you twist your solid wires together before you put them in a wirenut.

  • yes i twist them

    Votes: 93 73.2%

  • no i do not

    Votes: 34 26.8%
  • Total voters
    127
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That pisses me off

That pisses me off

I work hot most of the time. There's nothing worse than removing a wirenut only to find loose conductors ready to arc and spark. I'm old school. If you strip with your Kleins,don't bother twisting.
 
I twist solid wires together. The town I grew up in has alot of traffic on the main road which runs right through the heart of town. This is a two lane highway and believe it or not, just the vibration from traffic is enough to make a wirenut loosen on its own.
 
Always twist, as the Code requires.

Always twist, as the Code requires.

Somebody find it, as I dont recall the specific article, but the NEC requires splices to be mechanically continuous BEFORE a wire cap is installed. Some wirenut manufacturers specify to NOT pre-twist, noting that the joint will be correct when 2 turns are seen in the insulated part of 2 conductors being joined, and Im fine with that for ballast wiring, but let me see someone do that with 2 #10 solid copper wires, much less 3. And anyway, what kind of a mechanic would leave a joint like that where it might have to have the wirenut removed for voltage testing? The unsuspecting skilled tradesman might not necessarily realize the conductors have not been twisted together, and the joint would open under load.
 
Mike McDonald said:
Somebody find it, as I dont recall the specific article, but the NEC requires splices to be mechanically continuous BEFORE a wire cap is installed. Some wirenut manufacturers specify to NOT pre-twist, noting that the joint will be correct when 2 turns are seen in the insulated part of 2 conductors being joined, and Im fine with that for ballast wiring, but let me see someone do that with 2 #10 solid copper wires, much less 3. And anyway, what kind of a mechanic would leave a joint like that where it might have to have the wirenut removed for voltage testing? The unsuspecting skilled tradesman might not necessarily realize the conductors have not been twisted together, and the joint would open under load.
Click to expand...

There is no such requirement for wire nuts or any other pressure type connector, what your thinking is about if solder is used and the code section is 110.14(B), but read all of 110.14.
 
Mike McDonald said:
The unsuspecting skilled tradesman might not necessarily realize the conductors have not been twisted together, and the joint would open under load.
Click to expand...
It's especially fun when you're perched on a ladder, perhaps through a suspended ceiling grid, and that load is all of the lighting in the work area. :roll:
 
Thanks Wayne

Thanks Wayne

hurk27 said:
There is no such requirement for wire nuts or any other pressure type connector, what your thinking is about if solder is used and the code section is 110.14(B), but read all of 110.14.
Click to expand...
Wayne, youre right, thanks. One thing though is as I mentioned, if the mfg states that the cap is only installed correctly if there are 2 twists in the insulated portion of the conductors being joined, it is then that they say the stripped part becomes twisted. I doubt if anyone can tighten a wirenut by hand alone (no tools) sufficiently to accomplish that with 2 or 3 #10's without damaging the wirenut either from pressure inside on the spring or from pliers. Anyway, the same section you referred to states that there only needs to be insulation equal to what is on the wires, so maybe from now on I will just tape my joints and use scotchkote in a ground level box since the wire spring in most wirenuts just corrodes...and OOPS....there goes your untwisted joint!!!
 
i twist everything before I put the wirenut on, Solid and Stranded. Solid with my linemans, stranded with my fingers. It's something I just do without thinking about and always have. Unless I'm working something hot. Then I'll hold the stripped wire next to the wirenut I'm going to connect it to,take off the wirenut, let it fall into place and put the nut back on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This is so second nature its really not even worthe describing.:)

JAP>
 
Always, I see too many poor connections. Too many arcing and sparking inside the wirenut.

I install my work like a brick... out house!

I never want to suspect that I could be the reason that something failed, this is just one of the things I do to ensure that that isn't the case.
 
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