Watch those Backstabs

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cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

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Simi Valley, CA
growler said:
I can honestly say that I have not seen this.

I have seen a few loose screws but not many but I have had to replace every receptacle in a room due to loose back stab connections.

Back stabbing is legal and acceptable for a minimum standard but it's not as good as a properly torqued screw ( In my opinion).

I will admit one reason for finding so many bad back stabs may be because that is the way the majority of new homes are wired in this area. I almost never see a new house where there is anything other than back stabbing.
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Sorry not gonna win me over. I could ask 10 electricians to show me their torgue screwdriver and I bet I would get more blank stares than screwdrivers.:happyyes:
 
S

Strife

Senior Member
So the problem is not the backstab. The problem seems to be:
1: Why isn't the microwave on a dedicated circuit?
2: Why isn't the microwave on a 20A circuit?
I know that sometimes ago, receptacles were made to accept #12 on backstabs. I thought that was no longer the case, for the last 10 years or so, I haven't seen devices being able to accept #12 on the backstabs.
I apologize to all the people who are getting their panties in a bunch over backstabs, but it seems the "horror" stories about backstabs are actually about improper application of such and not the backstabbing in itself. Well... your car can drive 200 MPH, if you kill yourself driving with said speed, and lose control, does it mean the car is bad?
There's a big difference between 15A and 20A. Is backstab the problem because someone decided to put a 30A breaker on a #14?(I have seen it), and have the toaster and the microwave on said circuit? Sure, if the devices were not backstabbed they "might" have hold ( that's a big if). Regardless, it'd still be an improper application. Just because some ways are more forgiving than others don't make them right.
Personally I never backstab in and out, I always pigtail both the neutral and the hot(and the ground), I believe it'd be pushing it a little on the backstab.
Speaking of which, can a device really be used as a substitute for a wire nut? I never liked the idea, so just curious.


jmellc said:
Had a service call where microwave kept going out. Sometimes tripped breaker, sometimes not. Kept hearing a click sounding like coming from crawl space, sounded like a breaker tripping. Went under & found no other load on the ckt & no OC device. Checked again & found the recep was 2nd in line. 1st had been back stabbed & wires were very loose. Still gave a good voltage reading, on that recep & the others downline. A blender worked fine on the ckt, smaller load. But the MW was causing wires to vibrate a little & flicker. That put MW into reset mode. I pigtailed the recep & others downline too. No more problem. Look for this if you get a strange acting microwave.
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