To twist or not to twist

Status
Not open for further replies.
tonyou812

tonyou812

Senior Member
Location
North New Jersey
I picked up a jug of twister pro wire nuts today and I was surprised to see that in the instructions it says pretwisting not required. I used to yell(well not yell) at this one apprentice at a previous job because he would not use his linemans to twist wires he would just use the wire nut to make the connection, usually when I wasnt looking or around.
Twice in my experiance Ive seen bad connections come loose and arc to the point were the wire nut melted. This was enough to convice me that not using your linemans first is a bad practice. And Im still not conviced that because they are "twister pros" that this is acceptable. What do you guys do?
 
A threat to the taping wirenuts thread

A threat to the taping wirenuts thread

I don't usually twist. The wirenuts usually grab and I twist just until the conductors start to turn. I let the wirenut do the work. One less step.

The manufacturers are designing them so we don't have to.

When done, don't forget the tape. :wink: :grin:
 
On ocassion I will not twist, if there is just two, maybe three wires. I went through a short phase many years ago where I someone else not twist so maybe it was not necessary. Lots of electricians do it with much success, but I prefer a good twist before wire nut.
 
When you gentlemen twist your wires, do you strip longer than necessary like the directions say to and trim to recommended length or do you just read the part of the directions you like and do that. Anytime connections are not properly done they come loose and arc. I have seen this numerous time over the years on wirenuts, split-bolts, solderless crimps, lugs, breakers, fuse holders etc. Point being all of it tends to be a personal choice.
 
I pre-twist only solid wires. If they're all stranded, pre-twisting doesn't do much good.

Now everyone....watch this thread closely.... it will be another version of the ground up/down debate.
 
Special K said:
When you gentlemen twist your wires, do you strip longer than necessary like the directions say to and trim to recommended length.
Click to expand...

3 or more will be stripped a bit longer (than just two) and then twisted.
Then the end will be snipped neatly **at an angle**.




But if it is a ground up job I figure no one knows what they're doing and they'll all just get jammed in. :)
 
i worked for a contractor for eight years and the were large and concentrated their work to high rise condos. i was a foreman for them for seven years and supervised three major projects during that period. i was trained to twist splices and had seen enough problems to form my own opinion that the extra labor is worth the quality of the job and the reduced call backs. i have read the instructions and still required the splicers on my jobs to twist. i had an argument with one of the owners about twisting splices and he told me "it wasn't worth it"! some years later and after i was in business for myself i sat next to him at mike holts continuing education seminars and he told me that they had looked back at their records and my jobs required very few call backs. this company had two service guys just for call backs and they were the guys that brought it to the owner's attention!!! now i must admit that i believe the twisting also lends a thought to the worker that proper terminations are important.
 
If you follow the manufacturers instructors, then you can make a solid connection with or without pretwisting.

Bad connections have absolutely nothing to do with pretwisting or not, but rather ignoring manufacturer instructions. This includes putting more conductors into the connector than what it's rated for.
 
peter d said:
Didn't you mean "Udderly?" :D
Click to expand...

I probably did. But please don't tell everyone that I'm Illaretrite....Illedderate....Illiteritde......Oh screw it man, I kant spell. Are you happy now. :D
 
frizbeedog said:
I probably did. But please don't tell everyone that I'm Illaretrite....Illedderate....Illiteritde......Oh screw it man, I kant spell. Are you happy now. :D
Click to expand...


Yess, Ime happey now. I kant spell eether. :D
 
Illiterate.jpg
 
frizbeedog said:
That's just utterly ridiculous. :grin:




....sorry, I've been waiting to use that one.
Click to expand...
Did you mean "udderly" ? [edit: peter d beat me to it]

I'm a twist then cap kind of guy. I sometimes trim the big bunches because some wires have further to go 'round the mountain and I usually start with the same strip length.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top