Unusual wire nut. Is this old?

[Buck Parrish]

Found this old wire nut terminating in a very old water heater. You put the wires in the copper device then tighten the set screw. Finally you install the wire nut on top of the copper device. .
Have you ever seen this ?

 

[ActionDave]

I'd say those are late 50s vintage. You can still order them from Ideal though. I used to keep some around because I liked to use them for hooking up small motors.

 

[Buck Parrish]

That makes sense because the guy said his house was built in 1960..
I've seen ceramic ones with no copper.

 

[AC\DC]

They look like they would never come apart

 

[winnie]

Yup, you can still buy them. I used to have a few to deal with short stubs of wire in the back of boxes.

They offer the benefits of being able to see that all the conductors are correctly positioned in the splice, and a splice that is easily re-entered to modify.

Playing with them I learned that of you sit some combinations of wire the wrong way you can tighten the screw, wiggle the wire, and have things loose again. The wires sort of balanced wrong under the pressure of the screw, and the wiggle would make them release.

Expensive: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-Set-Screw-Wire-Connector-for-Model-22-100-per-Box-30-222/305259920

Jon

 

[wadley.dk]

We use them all the time. We buy the IDEAL brand of set screw connectors.

 

[LarryFine]

I have one somewhere.

 

[sparky1118]

One of the supply houses I go to has these. I've never used one but you can still buy them.

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[ptonsparky]

Old is relative, or is it subjective?

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

The first time I came across one I save one.
Then since then I've seen them on few dozen houses over my career.

 

[Fred B]

The wire nut covering, was the old ones bakelite? I found one years ago but the cover was cracked, very brittle like bakelite, so replace with a standard nut.
Seems application I've seen on have been larger conductors, #10 or 8s. Didn't know still available, they do seem that it might be better for the larger conductors vs the big blue ones.
So with these, conductors, pretwist or straight under the clamping screw? I've seen them both ways.

 

[retirede]

Old is relative, or is it subjective?

Yes!


And to add - I think it’s a misnomer to call this thing a “wirenut”.

 

[brantmacga]

Unique Lighting ships this same connector with LV landscape lighting kits; cap is silicone filled.


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