Fried Wirenut

dkillianjr

I was demoing a kitchen today. When I went to take out the dishwasher this is what I found. Its kinda a bad picture, but the spring inside melted completely through the side of the wirenut. The wires were twisted together with no nicks or any damage and were still tight in the nut when I took it off. I looked at the wire size it was 12ga and was pretty new looking and went directly to a 20 amp breaker.The customer did say that the dishwasher was acting up not to long ago. Any ideas on what would cause something like this?

Dave

mdshunk

Only one thing causes that. Wirenut not on tight enough.

dkillianjr

Thats the weird thing though, thats the first thing I thought when I saw it but when I untwisted it, it seemed pretty tight. I wish you were closer to Pittsburgh MD I could use a new electrician you deffinetly seem very knowlegable.


Dave

mdshunk

Trust me, it was loose. The dishwasher has stranded conductors and the romex was solid. It can seem tight on the solid conductor while only holding the stranded dishwasher conductor loosely.

dkillianjr

Yup ,I didnt think of that I have seen that before.


Dave

Teetorbilt

This brings up the question; What is the best stranded to solid connection beyond soldering? I "tin" stranded wire prior to using wire nuts.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

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mdshunk

A properly installed wire nut, installed by an experienced and trained electrical professional.

MSSI

I actually saw one SHOOT about 30ft across the room one time..Starting up a blower with a loose wirenut in a junction box with no cover...

I gave the guy the ole Ron White(comedian) ...."Well I guess that guy must have been absent on wirenut day"...

RobertWilber

It is important to remember to have the stranded conductor lead the solid conductor in the wirenut, so as to trap the strands with the "plug" of solid copper.
A lot of folks forget to do that.
If you start them both off even with each other, the strands wrap around the solid conductor and walk out of the spring. It feels tight, but the stranded wire might as well then just be pushed into the wirenut after it was put on the solid wire by itself.

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Philadelphia electrician

JohnJ0906

Good point Robert. I do that, and always tug on the stranded conductor to make sure it is secure.

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John from Baltimore
"One Day at a Time"
All replies based on the 2008 NEC

220/221

....with massive forearms.

HVAC_NW

Samething happened at my home on wire nuts used for halogen ceiling light in kitchen. That thing was bright. It had a 500W quartz lamp in it.

I got around to changing it with a T8 fluorescent, because I hate incandescent. When I went to remove it, I had to cut the wire, because the wire nut was melted in place. Cause? The fixture was rated for 150W. Previous lady who owned the place before us(or her contractor/handyman) thought it would be a good idea to put a 500W bulb in it. The wires to the ceramic socket got so hot it melted the wire nuts.

Unfortunately, the 150W,300W torchiere lamp, 500W work light halogen lamps all have the same form factor and there's nothing to prevent someone from putting in a 500W lamp in place.

HVAC_NW

There are crimp ons.