Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

In article CyVih.19$%M1.14@trnddc08, "Pop`" wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

The answer to question #1 depends on exactly what you mean.

The (US) National Electrical Code explicitly approves the use of solder in
splices, provided that the splice is both mechanically and electrically secure
_without_ solder.

IOW... it's ok to make a splice with solder, but it's *not* ok to make a
splice *only* with solder.

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I agree with Doug. Crimp first, then solder just to seal out the
envirnment.

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for
making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g


Interesting perspective but makes a lot of sense.

How about welding where its both mechanically and electrically secure? We
already use Cadweld for grounding and spot weld in appliances.

"Pop`" wrote in message
news:CyVih.19$%M1.14@trnddc08...
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Solder has gone the way of the blacksmiths.

In article , "# Fred #" wrote:

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for
making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g


Interesting perspective but makes a lot of sense.

How about welding where its both mechanically and electrically secure? We
already use Cadweld for grounding and spot weld in appliances.

I seem to remember reading that welding was ok, but I can't find a citation in
the Code for that right now, so I may be wrong.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!

Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?


--
Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really
care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when
you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge.

- Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm)

"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!


Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use solder. Its
just make the connections stronger, less resistance and reliable if its done
right. Over the years I've seen mechanical joints failed much more than
mechanical joints with solder. You have solder used on copper pipes that
outlasted the pipes itself. You have silver solder on the bike joints (light
steel tube with tensile strength somewhere around 150,000psi) that would
take a fair amount of stresses. And there would not be any electricity
generated without solder.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?


Don't see why not, tape is used on high voltage splices and you see a lot of
it in old houses too. BTW, the best high voltage splices are done with lead
(solder) - its a dying art form much like using lead on auto body repair.

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!

But then all of your copper plumbing would be leaking ;-)

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David Nebenzahl wrote:
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?

Use several layers and keep the tape under just enough tension to
stretch and mold itself to the joint. Only things better would be
spaghetti tubing or heat shrink.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?

Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely unacceptable.
Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box above an
incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

Skip the solder, use wire nuts.

Bob M. spake thus:

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...

Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?

Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely unacceptable.
Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box above an
incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.


--
Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really
care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when
you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge.

- Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm)

FWIW, my parents house (built in 1957, we bought it in 1961) has
soldered connections wrapped with the old friction tape they used back
then, and haven't had the least problem with any of them. Larry

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...


Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely
unacceptable. Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box
above an incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.

Same answer. Stay with wire nuts.

My 50-year-old house has soldered/taped joints and as I come across them, I
peel the tape off and put a wire nut on it. If I'm wiring up something,
I'll break the solder joint, add the new wire and wire nut them.

Bob M. wrote:
"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...


Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely
unacceptable. Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box
above an incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.

Same answer. Stay with wire nuts.

My 50-year-old house has soldered/taped joints and as I come across them, I
peel the tape off and put a wire nut on it. If I'm wiring up something,
I'll break the solder joint, add the new wire and wire nut them.

Do you tape the wire nuts?

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about 6
inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered K&T
wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about 6
inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered K&T
wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

# Fred # wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!


Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use
solder. Its just make the connections stronger, less resistance and
reliable if its done right.

"If it's done right." It is easy to mistake a solder-only joint for a
physical joint that's soldered. Lay one wire atop another and join with
solder. Electrical connectivity is great, but the joint has no stuctural
strength. As to resistance and reliability, when both are done right, there
is no difference between a solder joint and a wire-nut joint.

Those two being equal, the choice comes down to other factors: Ease of
"doing it right," expense, tools, power, noxious fumes, equipment,
experience, time and labor, etc.

Over the years I've seen mechanical
joints failed much more than mechanical joints with solder. You have
solder used on copper pipes that outlasted the pipes itself. You have
silver solder on the bike joints (light steel tube with tensile
strength somewhere around 150,000psi) that would take a fair amount
of stresses. And there would not be any electricity generated without
solder.

Granted, soldering copper pipes works well (it has to). But why are copper
pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with plastic? And racing bikes
cost 100 times more than a Schwinn, perhaps because of the soldering?

David Nebenzahl wrote:
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?

Yes, in some locales, assuming it has the proper markings and approvals.

HeyBub wrote:
# Fred # wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

....

Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use
solder. Its just make the connections stronger, less resistance and
reliable if its done right.

"If it's done right." It is easy to mistake a solder-only joint for a
physical joint that's soldered.

Completely erroneous. If "it's done right" the wiring positions and forms
are clearly visible and easily distinguished.

Lay one wire atop another and join
with solder. Electrical connectivity is great, but the joint has no
stuctural strength.

No, actually it does have a fair structural strength. It's flexing and the
memory properties of solder that make it require the use of a physical
connection also.

As to resistance and reliability, when both are
done right, there is no difference between a solder joint and a
wire-nut joint.

Wrong again.


Those two being equal, the choice comes down to other factors: Ease of
"doing it right," expense, tools, power, noxious fumes, equipment,
experience, time and labor, etc.

Especially time and expense. ...

Father Haskell wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about
6 inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered
K&T wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application. The
heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned problems.


Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

It's easy to unsolder IFF it's done right g. There's that caveat again:
"If ... "

spake thus:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.

Bull****.

I could do it easily with my 35-watt soldering iron (which cost me
exactly $1 in one of those everything-made-in-China dollar stores).


--
Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really
care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when
you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge.

- Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm)

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost


Especially now that the price of copper has gone out the roof. Also plastic
can be installed much quicker than rigid copper pipe.

In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article , (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost

You forgot the 11th reason: cost.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.
Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points. If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.

Bob

"lp13-30" wrote in message
...
FWIW, my parents house (built in 1957, we bought it in 1961) has
soldered connections wrapped with the old friction tape they used back
then, and haven't had the least problem with any of them. Larry

It's been a LONG time but my understanding was when solder was used to join
power wiring, a RUBBER tape was put over all the bare copper to insulate.
The rubber tape used didn't stick all that well. "Friction" tape (cloth
with "tar") was put on top of the rubber to hold it in place and to protect
it from FRICTION.

The idea was to duplicate the way the original wiring as insulated which was
rubber next to the conductor and cloth to protect the rubber.

John Gilmer wrote:

"lp13-30" wrote in message
...

FWIW, my parents house (built in 1957, we bought it in 1961) has
soldered connections wrapped with the old friction tape they used back
then, and haven't had the least problem with any of them. Larry


It's been a LONG time but my understanding was when solder was used to join
power wiring, a RUBBER tape was put over all the bare copper to insulate.
The rubber tape used didn't stick all that well. "Friction" tape (cloth
with "tar") was put on top of the rubber to hold it in place and to protect
it from FRICTION.

The idea was to duplicate the way the original wiring as insulated which was
rubber next to the conductor and cloth to protect the rubber.





Hi,
Actually it was friction tape first and rubber tape over it.

David Nebenzahl wrote:

spake thus:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.


Bull****.

I could do it easily with my 35-watt soldering iron (which cost me
exactly $1 in one of those everything-made-in-China dollar stores).


Hi,
Typical #14 or 12 wires with 35W iron? That sounds like near BS! Ever
saw a perfect solder joint and poor joint under the microscope? I was
mil-spec. soldering certified in my working days for DOD.

Pop` wrote:

Father Haskell wrote:

wrote:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:


Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Hmmm,
What about physical strength, flexibility. Stiff solder joint may crack
and break. Wirenut just can dangle in the middle of run, you use wire
nut to splice within junction box. Simple experiment. Make a solder
joint and wirenut joint. Then measure resistance across both and
compare. If you want to do more, heat the joint and measure again.
See any difference? You will need a meter which can read lot less than
one Ohm on the scale.

Hi,
Actually it was friction tape first and rubber tape over it.

Nope!

Bob wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:

In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?


More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

Hmmm,
Skin effect is dominant on RF range. 60Hz is not RF. Is it?
We use pipe instead of solid wire on RF application.

Tony Hwang wrote:

Skin effect is dominant on RF range. 60Hz is not RF. Is it?
We use pipe instead of solid wire on RF application.

Skin effect is also a consideration for lightning protection. That's
why down conductors are a web of fine braids. And your guess of what
Hz lightning is is as good as mine.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:28:22 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Father Haskell wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about
6 inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered
K&T wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application. The
heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned problems.


Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

It's easy to unsolder IFF it's done right g. There's that caveat again:
"If ... "



I just tried to solder two #10 stranded wires on my car with a Weller
Gun. I could not get enough heat from it. I finally got out and old
"soldering iron". That iron is 100w I believe. Even that took too
long. I finally put a propane torch on the iron and got it really
hot. I like to solder on cars because the wires corrode otherwise.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:37:08 -0500, wrote:

On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:51:03 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:


Hmmm,
What about physical strength, flexibility. Stiff solder joint may crack
and break.


That is why the code says the joint must be mechanically secure before
you solder it. If you make a Western Union splice and solder it you
have a joint stronger than the wire.

What is a Western Union splice?

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:54:56 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

spake thus:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.

Bull****.

I could do it easily with my 35-watt soldering iron (which cost me
exactly $1 in one of those everything-made-in-China dollar stores).

Ok wiseguy. PROVE IT.
Take your camcorder, start by showing the wattage label on the
soldering iron, and the kind of solder you have (roll label). Then
make a movie of yourself doing it, and upload the movie. I bet you
wont be able to do even two #12 wires, and there is no way you can do
five.

Finding the keyboard operational
Doug Miller entered:

In article . com,
"Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

It's negligible at the voltage and current that we are talking about here
but the decrease in resistance is from the increased surface area in
contact.
If you were to just lay 2 wires next to each other, the area of contact
would be very small, just the tangential area. Twisting the wires together
will increase the area but soldering will provide the most.
Bob
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