Opinions on the Wago wire splicing lever nuts
derekr
| Posted in Mechanicals on
the drywallers went a little too deep with their roto’s and hit a few of my wires in 4 outlet boxes
electrician is going cut off the dmg and extend them with wire nuts, I saw these wago connectors though and thought these might be better, very good reviews and highly recommended by some people online, it looks like they are some what new for the US but have been used in Europe for 10 years
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Replies
Derekr,
Another good reason to include courtesy loops at all boxes.
Yes, have you heard of these though? Should I ask electrician to use these?
It's a technique for wiring where you leave a loop before you terminate the wire in the box. It's for cases like yours, so the wire in the box can be cut off then some length of wire can be pulled from the loop. If it wasn't done when the wiring was put in you are SOL.
WAGOs are the standard overseas, they don't do wire nuts.
I would recommend using a regular side-by-side WAGO rather than an inline to fix short wires in a box, they are more compact and make the job easier.
One caution with the inline ones: WAGO makes 2 versions of the 221 inline splice devices. One can handle 12ga, and one only goes to 14ga. Make sure you buy the correct ones for your wire size. (This may be a nonissue in the US, I've only ever seen the 12ga version sold here, but doublecheck when you buy).
Yea there’s no loops, have already tried pulling on them to see if there was extra, that’s why electrician was going to extend them with wire nuts
I saw these wagos though and thought they seemed like a better solution than wire nuts? There’s going to be like 3 inches of wire left after the damage is cut off
I’m just wondering if they are more safe or less safe than wire nuts or if there’s no difference, if it’s the standard over seas then that tells me tests they have done show they are better
There’s no advantage to the inline ones? Seems like it would be a better connection to me anyway
derekr,
Yes. This is exactly what they are best at. They sit flat against the back of the box, allowing the pigtail to attach much as if there was no splice.
Wago connectors are generally great for ease of use and verifying secure connection. It is also much more convenient for stranded wire which wire nuts make a mess of.
However it does have slightly higher resistance at 2.2 mΩ vs 0.15 mΩ for wire nuts. This will lead to higher heat generation and energy loss, which may matter to you if electricity is extremely expensive or if you're off-grid.
Please see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgjo36-jaFY
Thankfully it’s just 4 outlets that aren’t going to be used a ton, so electricity usage shouldn’t be a problem
Thanks for posting this, I didn't know they had higher resistance.
“Yea there’s no loops, have already tried pulling on them to see if there was extra,”
Something is very wrong with this statement.
How did you pass your ruff in inspection without service loops at every box it is a code requirement!
Is this the only box in the house without a service loop? Fat chance.
If your electrician was willing to knowingly violate the code to lower his costs and increase his profits, one has to wounder what other corners he cut for profit?
Was a permit pulled for your job?
Was the job inspected?
Is this electrician licensed to work in your location?
Is this electrician insured?
Walta
Yes it was inspected service loops aren’t required here, the requirement here was that the cable was stapled within 8 inches of the box
Walta,
I thought they were only required in Canada?
I don't think it's a code requirement. If you think otherwise, can you cite the section specifying it?
Wago connectors are excellent, I've been installing them for at least a dozen years in the US with very few issues. They are excellent when working with old/short wires as described above. The Wago brand connectors all have a test port for a probe to confirm the connection without breaking it, so one can rough-in an entire circuit without any devices and plug them in later. Also, with a temporary plug at the end of a circuit, one can energize it and check for arc-faults before and after sheetrock, which can prevent some issues in rooms with expensive finishes.
The snap-type Wago connectors are superb for stranded wire connections as well as troubleshooting where one might change the configuration of connections to understand what's going on.
I did find a failure the other day in a Wago I installed 10 years ago and I'm not positive why it failed, if it was my installation error or a faulty product (more likely the former). To its credit, nothing was damaged, it simply ceased to work reliably, and I was called-back to fix it.
It’s kinda hard to install them incorrectly from what I’ve seen
You’re saying if it does fail the chances of a fire happening are still low? In the one that failed in your picture what stopped it from continuing to burn
Indeed it's hard to screw up as long as you give a tug test after you clamp. More than once I've clamped a wago and didn't have the wire shoved in all the way, so when I gave a tug it came apart. 100% user error. If I was vigilant about stripping the wire the proper length it would be harder to mess up.
Ways to mess up Wagos.
1. Not stripping enough wire means the clamp grabs insulation instead of the wire.
2. Stripping too much insulation so that there is bare wire exposed inside the box.
3 . Opening the clamp inadvertently when stuffing wires into the box.
All pretty easy mistakes to make ( and also easy to avoid).
#3 is my guess in my case. Wiremold isn't really designed to have connections inside, but that's hard to tell an architect and get any sympathy. Bottom line is that these are very reliable connectors and very useful in tight situations.
-To answer post #12, the entire assembly is grounded steel surrounding the wires. Had an arc reached that, or any other wire, it would have shorted enough to trip the breaker, which it did not.
Wiremold makes a connector called a W30 that is designed to go inside. It's the only way to do a neat installation with Plugmold.
https://www.amazon.com/Wiremold-W30-Pressure-Connector-Single-Channel/dp/B00749JWEK
So I pulled a little harder on the cable and was able to get another 1 or 2 inches out, so once the damaged part is cut off there will be about 2.5 inches of good wire past the outside of the box now, half an inch less than it should be but I don’t think the inspector will care about half an inch
The 4th outlet box it appears just the wire insulation was hit and I can only see a sliver of copper that doesn’t appear to be touched, that one may be able to just be covered with electric tape
Your question prompted me to look at my electrical rough in and all of my boxes have courtesy loops thankfully. As for the Wago connectors, I plan to replace the wire nuts with them in boxes with multiple neutrals. The new smart switches like Caseta are so large that there's not much room for wire nuts.
I've had wires work loose in wire nuts when jammed in the boxes with large switches. I think that's more unsafe than any added resistance from wago connectors. As an extra precaution, I tape the levers shut with electrical tape to avoid them lifting when jammed in the box.
I've started using 3" boxes by default for switches for this reason. A bit more annoying to reach to the back to the wiring but makes installing anything smart much easier.
I asked my electrician about those. The 15 cubic inch boxes are more than 3x the cost of the the 12.5 cubic inch ones here.
Plus, I didn't think about it until I saw them mounted half way through and really didn't want to have discussion on a rework extra for them.
Akos,
I've got to start doing that. Trying to cram a couple of marrettes behind a device is awkward at best.