Wire Nuts Old School?

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I have no problem using them for end runs or for small runs of can lights.
But no way for me to use them in feed through 20 amp circuits. I know they will fail in my opinion.
 
two different jobs i've been on these where the problem

two different jobs i've been on these where the problem

rustyryan34 said:
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Do any of you guys use Ideals Push In connectors(also made by wago) instead of wire nuts? Our compay is stocking them on all our jobs now right next to the wire nuts. I think they are quicker and you can see the connctions inside them. The down side is they dont realy come apart as easy as wire nuts. Do you guys use them?
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one in a smoke dec.box,one in a outlet box bad connection.
 
ultramegabob said:
sometimes its hard for me to try new things, but I just dont care for the idea of stabbed connections, I have seen way too many problems with switches and recepts with that style of connection. I will wait and see how they work out for people for a while before I would do a project with them...
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I agree, I like those connectors about as much as I like it when guys dont twist their wires with their linemans before using a wire nut. Theres nothing worse than tieing into a live circut, say when your working in a hospital or somewhere where turning off power isnt an option and when you remove the wire nut the idiot before you didnt bother twisting the wires and when you remove the nut the wires come away from each other:mad: :mad: :mad: , and somewhere on that circut a computer flickers off, Very annoying.

I almost always cut them out of cans if they come with them. It only took one failure on a finish to convice me that they suck as a good connection. Same goes for outlets and switches. How can you be that lazy?
 
tonyou812 said:
Theres nothing worse than tieing into a live circut . . . and when you remove the wire nut . . . the wires come away from each other:mad: :mad: :mad: . . .
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I've had that happen, and it has even thrust me into darkness with the live wires mere inches in front of my face.

We also have no legitimate complaint whatsoever, since we're not supposed to work stuff hot. Them's the risks.
 
tonyou812 said:
I agree, I like those connectors about as much as I like it when guys dont twist their wires with their linemans before using a wire nut. Theres nothing worse than tieing into a live circut, say when your working in a hospital or somewhere where turning off power isnt an option and when you remove the wire nut the idiot before you didnt bother twisting the wires and when you remove the nut the wires come away from each other
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Sometimes, I'll twist the wirenut on tighter to pretwist the wires before removing it.;)
 
480sparky said:
Color me 'old school' then. I don't care for them. To me, they're just a version of the old back-stab connectors that are on the back of resi devices, and in 2000 they changed those to not accept 12. Hmmmm. Maybe there was a reason for that. Like they aren't good connections for anything over 15 amps. But here everyone is stuffing 10s into them new-fangled Wagos.
Call me old-fashioned. (My cell phone does two things: it makes phone calls when I push the buttons, and it takes phone calls when it goes "Ringy-Dingy!". It has a green screen. No 'net connection. No email. No text messaging. And it does me juuuuuust fine!)
I once did a house full of can lights that had the Wagos pre-installed in the j-boxes. OK, I thought, I'll give 'em a try. When I went back to trim, I had to spend two days pulling cans down in order to find the open connections.
Now, I know what you're thinking..... "installer error". One or two, I'd be OK with. But scores of 'em? C'mon! I had more loose connections trimming those cans out than I have the rest of my entire career.
Gimme a pouch full of tan twisters and my 9-Kliens.
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I've finished a couple basements recently that had about 40 of those recessed cans in them a piece (halo) and they had the push in connectors instead of wirenuts. I love 'em. I've never had one wire pop out. I guess as long as I'm the one wiring them there are no problems. Some people just can't do simple things right anymore like pushinng a wire into a hole. How hard is that?
 
ultramegabob said:
It could be ten years or so until we can determine if these connectors are any better than back stabbed devices, Im kinda of the opinion that under load a thin spring loaded contact over the years heating and cooling from being turned on and off is going to break down way before a twisted wirenut connection. I sure wouldnt want to jump right into a big job and use these things and find out they are not reliable connections.
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My house is 23 years old and all of the plugs and switches are back stabbed and not a single one has ever had a problem.
 
scwirenut said:
As some of you may remember from posts a year or so ago, I have stated that I have used WAGO's exclusively for over 4 years now, I havnt twisted wire for the (Neanderthal) wirenuts since I can remember, no more carpal tunnel, no more stressing the conductors. I have used thousands with a ZERO failure rate. cans, smokes, troffers, especially switch boxes, you name it they do it. I even use the ones that accept #10 for the water heaters. the only time I ever use a wirenut is the orange ones for dead ends like fixtures, or the big blues for bigger than #10. there are over a hundred homes with these I wired and not one prob. just like any tool, you must use it properly, learn the proper install method. The same goes for backstabbing outlets, I have thousands in service, ZERO failures.
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Right on!! I can't understand all these people acting like stab ins are always popping out or failing. I've never once seen anything wrong with them. And like you I've been in hundreds of houses.
 
ElectricianJeff said:
Same experience here.........installed serveral dozen in a new home. As I recall 3 lights didn't work. I was the one who had to crawl through the insulated attic in the middle of the summer to fix. Now I just snip them off and wirenut them.
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You shouldn't have to go in the attic to access the jbox on the recessed lights. Just drop the trim and housing and BOOM there it is.
 
I just used one the other day for a wire that was too short to get even a wirenut on and it just made it to extend the ckt without extensive plaster damage. Otherwise I think they are junk.
 
quogueelectric said:
I just used one the other day for a wire that was too short to get even a wirenut on and it just made it to extend the ckt without extensive plaster damage. Otherwise I think they are junk.
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Right on! They're only junk when they're optional. :wink:
 
I used them in sixty can lights on a house I did in the spring and all of them worked just fine. The last house I did I didn't think about it and cut them off. I was about half way through the installation before I caught myself so I just continued on with the same program. I don't know if I would use them in switches and recepticles, but I heard they did on a major commercial job locally with few problems.

If they would help stop some of the problems with the gorillas that twist thier wire ends and cut it to make it fit in the wire nut, which they overtighten, then I am for them I guess. I quit twisting my ends together years ago. I just strip my wires to the proper length, hold them neatly together and apply the wire nut until it clicks. I have had minimal failures with this method and there is no reduction of circular mils on the wires from the teeth of my pliers slipping when I twist the ends.

Gene
 
Ebow said:
I just strip my wires to the proper length, hold them neatly together and apply the wire nut until it clicks.
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Until what clicks? The wirenut? Your wrist? I've never heard of a wirenut that "clicks."
 
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