Homeownerinburb
Member
JW,
Went out on a trouble shooting call today. Glad it came. The laborers on the home remodel that I have stumbled across have dug down five feet so far and not yet found the utility's conduit. If we go much further, I am going to tell the general that he needs to pull a permit to dig a deep hole and shore the wretched thing up.
Wadda ya know? Power out on most of one circuit of four in a one bedroom apartment.
Looked around for a fair bit.
And score a point for you: the line went into a box, was stripped of its insulation and wrapped around a screw, and then nutted off to the wire that went off to the parts of the circuit that were not working.
The line had broken on the outgoing side of the screw. The wire failed because the previous guy had damaged the copper and then possibly twisted it around a lot to get it into the box. The light that the switch served was still working, as the line was intact to the switch.
Pulled the line off the screw, cut off the exposed copper, bared that and the other, added a third to the screw on the switch, and all was well.
I had already pulled out a pair of switches thinking the problem was there (the switch not working a light was directly down stream of the other that I described.)
All four of the screws were loose. I am not a burly guy. I do not have a crushing grip. I twist stuff together as hard as I can. It seems to stay together. What is the problem?
Your tolerance of back stabs leaves me confused.
I still insist that the receptacle's female blades in back stabs are flimsy compared to the preferred stuff And I insist that a receptacle that has a yolk strap that passes all the way across the back of the unit is better than one that passes thru the middle of the body. This second arrangement does a very poor job of supporting the the female brass components when the plug gets shoved in there.
Experience has taught me to trust the unit that is built solidly. I don't object to the back stabs only because they rely on a dodgy contact with the wire (that will weaken in any over amperaging) but because all that I have seen look flimsy in every way.
Went out on a trouble shooting call today. Glad it came. The laborers on the home remodel that I have stumbled across have dug down five feet so far and not yet found the utility's conduit. If we go much further, I am going to tell the general that he needs to pull a permit to dig a deep hole and shore the wretched thing up.
Wadda ya know? Power out on most of one circuit of four in a one bedroom apartment.
Looked around for a fair bit.
And score a point for you: the line went into a box, was stripped of its insulation and wrapped around a screw, and then nutted off to the wire that went off to the parts of the circuit that were not working.
The line had broken on the outgoing side of the screw. The wire failed because the previous guy had damaged the copper and then possibly twisted it around a lot to get it into the box. The light that the switch served was still working, as the line was intact to the switch.
Pulled the line off the screw, cut off the exposed copper, bared that and the other, added a third to the screw on the switch, and all was well.
I had already pulled out a pair of switches thinking the problem was there (the switch not working a light was directly down stream of the other that I described.)
All four of the screws were loose. I am not a burly guy. I do not have a crushing grip. I twist stuff together as hard as I can. It seems to stay together. What is the problem?
Your tolerance of back stabs leaves me confused.
I still insist that the receptacle's female blades in back stabs are flimsy compared to the preferred stuff And I insist that a receptacle that has a yolk strap that passes all the way across the back of the unit is better than one that passes thru the middle of the body. This second arrangement does a very poor job of supporting the the female brass components when the plug gets shoved in there.
Experience has taught me to trust the unit that is built solidly. I don't object to the back stabs only because they rely on a dodgy contact with the wire (that will weaken in any over amperaging) but because all that I have seen look flimsy in every way.