Extend old worn in-wall wiring

[philo]

Sounds like a great idea, now that I think of it I have seen a few of those.

[philo]

The low humidity may have helped.

My only experience was with a high-powered transformer when one of the terminals burned off. I cut back into good aluminum and crimped a copped lug onto it.

It eventually burned off...however even if I used an approved lug my guess is that it would have burned off too...so that's not much to go on

[clare]

High humidity here in the "interlaken" region of Southern Ontario hasn.t seemed to cause any problems.

[vjp2.at]

Many thanks. DIdn't realise there wasn an al-cu issue, tho we have only

1965 copper. (In 1980, I dropped electrochem to take stat thermo instead!)

Basically it is the two places I have replaced switches most often. One in th ebathroom, I put a series of timers and humidity detectors. THe timer is acting up but is ok if I don't set it to max. (BTW< after trying a series of humidity detectors, th eone from Broan works great - 55% winter 75% summer for bath fan). THe othe ris my study where i have replaced over five dimmers in the past twenty years.

THe last time, a few years go, the tips of the wire broke off.

I imagine I can just extend the wire the traditional way, splice another piece of wire, but I'm afraid it is too "fragile". I could solder it and tape it. Of course the "code" rule would be to run the wire new from the fuse box. (I co-own the hosue with two uncles who are electrical engineers and they can be very obsessive.)

I have come across some boxes in the house where it seems the builder extended the wire because it was too short?

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist

---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}--- [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards] [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

[clare]

That's the animal. great for a DIY install because it is pretty hard to screw up the installation.

[DerbyDad03]

Are lugs of that type allowed by code to be used inside a switch or receptacle box?

[bob haller]

i have a 100% solution for broken wires where the box is too small and the wires too short. install new wiring and abandon the original box, thats what blank covers are for:)

sometimes its just easier.

[HerHusband]

I installed commercial grade receptacles in our kitchen when we built our house. Like you, I figured they would be a better choice for outlets that would have things plugged and unplugged frequently.

However, after a couple months of living in the house, I replaced them with the cheap 59 cent versions. The insertion and withdrawal pressure needed with the commercial receptacles was just too excessive. It was very difficult to plug anything in, and it seemed like the plug would be damaged trying to unplug the device. Either that or we would end up getting shocked wrestling with the plug.

The cheap receptacles are easier to insert plugs into. If they start to wear out, it's easy to replace the outlet with another cheap socket. Replacing a broken appliance cord is often a lot more work and expense.

The one situation I can see the commercial sockets working better is for outlets where appliances are always plugged in, like a microwave or something.

For what it's worth, we've lived in our house 11 years now and the cheap sockets still work like the day I installed them.

Just my experience...

Anthony Watson

[HerHusband]

I don't recall the brand, just whatever upgrade I could find at the home centers. I think I paid $3-5 for each of them at the time.

I was really surprised how much force it took to plug something in. On more than one occasion, my wife called me in the kitchen to plug things in for her, or unplug something she had plugged in. We still have a few of them in areas we don't use often, and they haven't gotten any weaker with time.

It is somewhat easier with newer appliances that have thumb grips on the plugs. They give you something to grab hold of to remove the plug. However, we have a couple of old appliances (like an old blender I inherited from my mom) that just have straight plugs (no thumb grips). Those are very difficult to unplug from the commercial sockets, there's just nothing to hold on to.

Anthony Watson

[vjp2.at]

True, but painful

*+-i have a 100% solution for broken wires where the box is too small and the wires too short. install new wiring

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist

---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}--- [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards] [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

[vjp2.at]

Hospital grade. Heating up of lose contacts. Great advice! This newgroup is tops. Thanks!

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist

---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}--- [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards] [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]