Pete C. wrote:
David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 11/13/2009 5:51 PM Smitty Two spake thus:

In article ,
David Nebenzahl wrote:

You've made a convert out of me. From now on I'm going to use those
receptacles, instead of the el cheapo wrap-the-wire-around-the-screw types.
Yeah, they're OK, but be forewarned: For solid wire, you have to torque
the living **** out of that clamp screw if you want to end up with a
connection that's more reliable than the infamous backstab. I installed
several of those in my g.f.'s old house, and the mere folding of the
wires as I pushed the receptacle back into their boxes readily loosened
several, even when I thought I had the clamps plenty tight.
So are they really more reliable? Sounds like they might not be. (Or
perhaps not without the required torque screwdriver?)

The trick here, when using them with solid wire, is to wiggle the wire a
bit while tightening to ensure that it is seated at the far edge of the
clamp. What happened in the example, is that the wire was initially
clamped in near the screw and with the clamp plate at a bit of an angle,
the wire wiggled out to the wider edge area. If you endure it has
settled to that area when you are clamping it there isn't a looser area
for it to shift to. You can see the same thing happen if you try
clamping a solid wire in a plug that has the contacts visible.

My brother who is a licensed electrician with his own company hangs out
on some newsgroup for electricians. He told me long ago that there is
an ongoing debate there about using the same gauge wire on each side of
the screw for the reasons above. Most of them say it is code, and
against code to use only one side of the clamp.