I discovered some of the same issues in my 1972 house, plus most of the wiring was copper-clad aluminum which has a nasty tendency to break when replacing a receptacle.
Bob N7XY On Feb 17, 2011, at 5:31 AM, R. Kevin Stover wrote: > On Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:34:53 -0600 > "Don Cunningham" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I guess I'm getting old. Sorry about the blank message!! Don, I >> found something interesting in doing some "remodeling" and replacing >> receptacles. The old ones were ivory, and with the new white trim, I >> had to please the XYL, hi. Anyway, since my wiring days in the >> sixties, I have avoided the "backstab" type receptacle myself, >> knowing that spring HAD to wear out over the years. I found some >> receptacles at Lowe's, made by Cooper Industries that had the >> "backstab" feature. I was going to wrap the wire under the screws as >> I always have BUT these new back entry plugs now use the screw on the >> side to run a clamping mechanism against the wire, making a really >> good connection!! If one looks at the new plugs, you may be >> pleasantly surprised to find this new feature (maybe old by now, but >> my first experience with it). I did a "test room" with that method, >> but will do the rest of the place the old fashioned way, hi. > > Don and all. > > Our house, a 1972 vintage four level split, was full of back-stab > receptacles. We had one fail in an upstairs bedroom so after the > electrician left I went down to the hardware barn and purchased a box > or two of of the receptacle that Don Cunningham references. > > I just finished changing out the last two this last weekend. > > I did a little test. I wrapped a length of 14/2 Romex around my bench > vise in the garage and clamped it down tight. Connected the other > stripped ends to one of the new receptacles using the "back-stab+screw" > connection and started pulling. > > As expected the wire stayed put and more importantly didn't let go when > there was slack on the cable after the pulling exercise. > > This house has all new receptacles now. Now all I have to worry about > is the 39 year old wiring and the "creative" wiring the builder did > when he put this thing up. > > Lets just say the kitchen has all new Romex in it after a kitchen > remodel exposed the fact that the builder ran all of the Romex for the > kitchen through the ceiling soffits (considered living space by our > code) rather than the walls. > > -- > R. Kevin Stover > AC0H > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
