Just changed my mind about those push-in wire connectors

I was doing a kitchen remodel in a house over in Oak Park last month, and I had a whole circuit go dead on me. I traced it back to a junction box where I had used those quick push-in connectors for the neutral wires. The place looked clean, but when I pulled one out, the wire just slid right out with no pressure at all. It must have never seated right. I had to cut all the wires back, strip fresh ends, and use my trusty Wago lever nuts to redo the whole thing, which added about an hour to my day. I used to think the push-ins were fine for simple, solid-core wire jobs to save a few seconds. Now I'm convinced they're just not worth the risk of a bad connection you can't even see. What's your go-to connector for a box with a bunch of wires in it?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.lisa10d ago

My cousin's garage fire started in a junction box with those things.

robins8310d ago

Tell me more about what was in that junction box.

nancyj1110d ago

Could it have been those cheap wire nuts like @stone.lisa mentioned?