Heard a young apprentice call wire nuts "old school" yesterday

I was at the supply house picking up some 12/2 and this kid maybe 20 years old was grabbing Wagos like they were the only option. He told his buddy that wire nuts are for grandpas. Made me think about how much the trade has changed even in the 15 years I've been doing this. Remember when we all used to twist splices by hand and tape everything up? Now it's all push connectors and wagos for half the guys. I get that they're faster and some say safer but I still trust a good wire nut with tape on a heavy load like a microwave circuit. Had a service call last month where a push connector came loose on a ceiling fan and it was just dangling there. Has anyone else seen more callbacks with these new connectors?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.parker27d ago

You said "twist splices by hand and tape everything up" but real old school guys know you were supposed to solder those joints after twisting them. Tape was just for insulation back then, not for holding things together. I still use wire nuts on anything over 15 amps because I've seen way too many Wagos melt on dedicated appliance circuits.

the_kai26d ago

Yeah, "real old school guys know you were supposed to solder those joints" is exactly what I'm getting at. It's part of a bigger pattern I've noticed everywhere not just in the trade. Everything's been dumbed down for speed and anybody can do it, like how people use pre-made spice mixes instead of actually learning to cook from scratch. Same with cars now, you pop a module out instead of fixing the actual problem. We're losing the craft in a lot of places, not just wiring. And yeah, I still ain't trusting a push connector on a microwave either.