Posted by Willy-N [172.68.58.165] on Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 15:07:26 :
In Reply to: Two things about connectors in general posted by Sherman in Idaho [108.162.245.7] on Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 13:11:21 :
I have been a electrician for over 40 years more than 1/2 of it was trouble shooting problems and making corrections on mistakes made by others. I would say 90% plus of the problems I have found were bad connections related. I used to say it seems the wire never wears out but the connections that people make do. Over the years manufactures came up with all kinds of time saving things like quick wire plugs, aluminum small gauge wire, copper clad wire, plug/box modular outlets you just run the romex thru and clamp it together and sharp points make the connections. In the heaters splices were always going bad, spade lugs slipped on and not shoved strait causing the connection to be loose from the beginning, connections being used over instead of replacing them. Undersized wire due to long of runs. FPE Stab/Lock Breakers, Zinco Breakers, Push Matics Breakers all loosing there UL rating because of fires. The list is way longer than this so when I see little wire connectors approved for things I cringe a little thinking on how easy it is to not do them perfect and miss it when they are put together out of view. Later time shows it was not correct. This is why I am picky about these things even when manufactures say there great and company's selling them push the products. Knob & Tube has been given a bad name because people messed with it over the years. I have put modern panels in mansions that had 400 amp services with banks of screw in fuses all hooked to Knob and Tube Wiring over 100 years old and working just fine. Then we up date it and problems start to happen with the new stuff???
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