JWelectric
Electrical Contractor/Instructor
Jim and thatguy look straight into the end of a piece of size 14 AWG copper conductor. It will look like a copper circle. That is all the area that carries electrons down the wire. How can having half inch or better of this conductor under a screw be any better than the area of the wire?
Take the end of that conductor and establish a connection no larger than the end of the #14 and the device will carry as much current as the wire will carry. The connection will allow as much current to pass as the conductor carries. It is evident that the area of coverage need not be any larger than the area of the end of the conductor.
Unless you are going to say that a #14 that is 1000 feet long will carry the same or more current than #14 10 feet long. Would there not be more area of copper in the 1000 foot long piece than the 10 foot long piece?
Or we could say that a piece of 14 that is as long as it is wide would carry the same current as one that is 10 feet long. Well then why would we need more area in contact with the screw than the width of the wire? The one thing that we can’t argue with is the laws of physics and the thought that having ½ to ¾ of an inch covered by a screw will carry more current than a stab-loc should refrain from things such as wago connectors and terminal blocks. By the way these are approved all the way up to and including 30 amps.
The one thing that we all can be certain of is; if this stab-loc connection was as unsafe as some are trying to make it sound like, then why would the practice have been allowed for over 40 years now??
Why wouldn’t people like the Fire People be doing something about it? We all are aware how quick the Fire Marshall can close the doors to something unsafe. Wait a minute ain’t it the National Fire Protection Association that does the NEC? Yep it is those good fire boys that says this push-in connection is safe but then again they ain’t members of a Plumber’s Discussions Board, hee…hee…
You can argue till the cows comes home but until you get all these Nationally Recognized Testing Labs such as UL and Met along with all those great minds that govern the NEC to say that the screw is safer than the stab-loc you can rest assured that something that someone post on one of these discussion boards will not change my mind on the safety of the stab-loc connection.
I would hope that the general reader would also put their faith in those who are charged with our safety over the wives tales that spread throughout all the trades of how much better some installation is over another listed installation.
Take the end of that conductor and establish a connection no larger than the end of the #14 and the device will carry as much current as the wire will carry. The connection will allow as much current to pass as the conductor carries. It is evident that the area of coverage need not be any larger than the area of the end of the conductor.
Unless you are going to say that a #14 that is 1000 feet long will carry the same or more current than #14 10 feet long. Would there not be more area of copper in the 1000 foot long piece than the 10 foot long piece?
Or we could say that a piece of 14 that is as long as it is wide would carry the same current as one that is 10 feet long. Well then why would we need more area in contact with the screw than the width of the wire? The one thing that we can’t argue with is the laws of physics and the thought that having ½ to ¾ of an inch covered by a screw will carry more current than a stab-loc should refrain from things such as wago connectors and terminal blocks. By the way these are approved all the way up to and including 30 amps.
The one thing that we all can be certain of is; if this stab-loc connection was as unsafe as some are trying to make it sound like, then why would the practice have been allowed for over 40 years now??
Why wouldn’t people like the Fire People be doing something about it? We all are aware how quick the Fire Marshall can close the doors to something unsafe. Wait a minute ain’t it the National Fire Protection Association that does the NEC? Yep it is those good fire boys that says this push-in connection is safe but then again they ain’t members of a Plumber’s Discussions Board, hee…hee…
You can argue till the cows comes home but until you get all these Nationally Recognized Testing Labs such as UL and Met along with all those great minds that govern the NEC to say that the screw is safer than the stab-loc you can rest assured that something that someone post on one of these discussion boards will not change my mind on the safety of the stab-loc connection.
I would hope that the general reader would also put their faith in those who are charged with our safety over the wives tales that spread throughout all the trades of how much better some installation is over another listed installation.
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