The electrician who told me to stop using push-in connectors

I was at Ferguson's picking up a new breaker when an old electrician stopped me in the aisle. He saw I had a pack of those Wago-style push-in connectors and said throw them away. Said he pulled one out of a junction box last month that had melted, and the wire was barely making contact. I still use them for light fixtures but now I twist and tape everything in walls after that conversation. Has anyone else had one of those fail on you?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_ellis14d ago

I had a friend who replaced a ceiling fan in his 1960s house and found a push-in connector that was so brittle it crumbled when he touched it. The wire had been heating up for years, slowly cooking the plastic until it was basically dust. That got me thinking about how a lot of things in life are designed to be quick and easy, but not necessarily safe or reliable in the long run. It's the same with those quick-connect fittings on plumbing lines, or the plastic clips that hold car trim pieces together. They save time upfront but cause headaches later. I personally think twisting and taping is old school for a reason, it just works when done right.

ross.river13d ago

Tell me about it, I tore apart a lamp the other day that was from like the 70s and the wire nuts inside had basically turned into ancient artifacts. You could sneeze and they'd just disintegrate into a pile of plastic crumbs. It's wild how we've traded solid, reliable stuff for this "slap it together and hope for the best" mentality. I mean, sure, the push-in connectors saved the electrician like thirty seconds but now my buddy has to rewire his whole ceiling fan and probably half the house. Old school isn't always better but sometimes it's just common sense, you know?