"Bud--" wrote in message
...
: Dave wrote:
: I swear I don't trust these things. You tighten the hell out
of them
: but too often one wire does not get pulled in as far as the
others and
: is still a bit wiggly, and there is no room to do much of an
inspection
: or pull-test. They need to be made out of clear plastic with
a square
: end you could twist with a socket wrench -- or maybe install
the
: plastic insulator as a second step.
:
:
: I like the idea of clear plastic.
:
: I always use wirenuts with a "live spring". The spring does not
have
: hard plastic behind it and will deform over the wires giving a
longer
: length of the spring squeezing the wires together. Made by
Buchanan, 3M
: and others.
:
: bud--

REcently learned there are wire nuts pre-loaded with silicone
caulk, even, when I had to tie some #8s together for underground.
I was pleased & surprised when I poked the wirenut seal & there
was caulk already in them; I thought I'd have to manually caulk.
I worried a little about the pre-loaded caulk being insulating,
but ... no sweat - tested for 12 hrs under high load & no heat -
guess they worked well. I didn't pre-twist those; it said not to
g. For specialized applications, it's best to follow
instructions to the T.

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