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That old electrician in Birmingham told me to stop using push-in wire connectors, and he was right
So a few months back I was doing some light fixture swaps at my buddy's place near downtown Bham. Had this older guy, probably in his 60s, watching me work on his knob and tube setup. He saw me reach for those push-in Wago style connectors and just shook his head. Said I was asking for trouble with old wiring because the copper gets brittle over time. I kinda brushed him off thinking he was just set in his ways. Well last week I had a ceiling fan start flickering after only 3 months. Pulled it down and sure enough one of the push-in connections had loosened up and arced. Swapped everything over to screw-down wire nuts and it's been solid. Now I'm wondering if I should go back through all my old jobs and switch them out. Has anyone else had push-ins fail on older wiring?
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caseywalker2d ago
My uncle had a similar thing happen with those push-in connectors on a old house he was rewiring in Bessemer. He swore by them for years until one day he found one melted halfway through inside a junction box. The wire just gave up and the connector couldn't grip it anymore. He went back and replaced every single one he'd used over the past two years. Now he's got a box full of them in his garage he won't even throw away, just sits there as a reminder.
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