That time a master electrician told me to stop using wire nuts on stranded wires

Old guy named Pete at the supply house near Denver told me I was wasting my time with wire nuts for stranded to solid connections. He handed me a pack of Wago 221s and said trust me. Two weeks later I had to pull a box apart in a tight ceiling space and those lever nuts made it so much easier to get back together. Anyone else switch over and find it speeds things up a lot?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea_mitchell201mo agoProlific Poster

Pete's exactly right about those Wagos for stranded wire. I switched after fishing a three way switch box in my buddy's 1950s house, and the solid to stranded connections used to fight me every time. Those lever nuts honestly made me less angry working in tight spots.

umamartin1mo ago

@thea_mitchell20 same here, those lever Wagos save so much headache in old boxes.

simon7171mo ago

Man I feel this in my bones. The first time I used lever Wagos in a tight box I spent the next ten minutes just staring at it like "why have I been fighting with wire nuts my whole life?" My coordination is bad enough without trying to twist stranded and solid together while balancing on a ladder with my head jammed between studs. I must have looked like a fool holding up that little strip of Wagos like a trophy. Now I keep a bag of them in every tool pouch I own. Life's too short to wrestle with old aluminum wire in a cramped two gang box.