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Wire Nuts, What are the best?

48K views 45 replies 34 participants last post by  Grogan14 
#1 ·
Just trying to justify why I let my guys pick up Ideal at $70 a thousand
 
#5 ·
There are 4 supply houses in my town and none of them will carry anything but the ideal wire nuts.

The way they describe it (supply guys) there is a proprietary design in the way the nuts grab onto the wire.

Apparently, all the other companies use a coil that is closer in design to a spring because it is much rounder than the way ideal's triangle coil.

I have a personal preference towards the red and tan ones, especially for ground connections simply because you can add to them later on.

but we use a great deal of the tan twisters as well.
 
#10 ·
Ideal are about the only ones I want to use. The best reason I can give is: It's expensive to have to go back and trouble shoot when a wire didn't get caught in the connection. We work a lot of prevailing wage jobs, and just an hour of trouble shooting would more than pay for a bag of Ideals....
 
#22 ·
I have always sworn BY (not at) Ideal. The Tan (having a broader range of conductor size they can accommodate) are my preference. When doing a switch to electronic ballasts in 6 Bowling Alleys and 1 Office bld'g I did utilize a bunch of the Orange ones. but only on the ballast to lamp leads. Power leads were replaced with Tan, (BTW, I had the crew replace ALL wire nuts with new to alleviate the chance of call backs as working over the lanes required care. One of my guys decided to re-use nuts (thinking to increase my bottom line). After a couple 1 a.m. call outs I found these re-used nuts rolling around inside the fixtures. Not a single nut fell off in the 2000+ fixtures where the guys used new. Needless to say, I sadly felt the need to let the re-use guy go. As an aside, until the electronic ballasts debut, I always had my people replace lamps in pairs (regardless if only one was dark). Sure the client ate a second (at the time $1.84) 4' lamp - BUT 1 new & 1 old T-12's stressed out the ballasts & caused premature ballast failure. 'tis a lot easier & less expensive to replace lamps than ballasts. Also, after one of my residential clients called (less than 24 hrs after a new 4 lamp fixture w/ 4 new lamps, all same brand) to complain of only 1 lit lamp and the arriving Journeyman found 4 lamps of 3 different brands, all with black ends, we all started marking the mo. & yr. installed - with magic marker - on every lamp we installed. Most of my folks added their initials to the date. Rembrant could not have been happier. p.s. the client was the wife of a eye surgeon & had they been that destitute I would have gifted them 4 extra lamps.
 
#30 ·
I always used the red and yellow Ideal wing nuts, but then I tried the 3M R/Y and that became my favorite. My least favorite is the original 3M Scotchlocks.
The place, I first worked for, always bought those Scotchlocks. They always seemed to be hard to remove after they were installed. The inside coil slipped in the soft vinyl cap.
I personally thought, they couldn't be used again. :rolleyes:
 
#26 ·
We have a mix of Ideal and 3M products at my work. Honestly, I think the 3M hold better than the Ideal. This would be the red size. Typically we use these on multiple 12 gauge connections or mix of 10 and 12. We have used the tan twister but they seem much better suited for 14 gauge usage. One product I will wholeheartedly suggest is the 3M O/B model. Orange main body with a blue skirt. It replaces the little blue, orange, and at times, even the micro sized grey wire nuts. We used these constantly in lighting fixtures, motor control boxes, etc. They will hold a couple 18-20 gauge wires or one 12 and up to a couple of small fixture type wires without being to small for the 12 and requiring a forcible fit but also plenty tight enough for the smaller gauge. Good stuff.

Here's a photo with the other 3M products for comparison. The red ones we use are not shown in this photo.
 
#27 ·
The 3M tan with red skirt will hold five #12s, while the similarly sized Ideal tan twisters will only hold four. So, the 3m are great for grounds. Next, the 3M Orange with blue skirt will hold three #12s, but are the same small size as Ideal's little orange guys that can't. So they save a lot of room in a busy box, plus they're perfect for those tons of outlets that just have a feed in and feed out.
 
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