I finally stopped using my linesman pliers to twist wire nuts after a journeyman called me out

About a year ago, I was finishing up a rough-in on a house in Boise, and the guy I was working with, a real old-timer named Ray, watched me twist a wire nut on with my pliers. He just shook his head and said, 'You're gonna over-torque every connection in that box and crack the plastic. Your hands are calibrated, those pliers aren't.' I argued at first, said it was faster and gave a better connection. But he made me pull a few I'd done and sure enough, two of them had hairline cracks starting. I switched to hand-tightening only that day. It feels slower, but I haven't had a single call-back for a loose connection or a failed nut since. How many of you still use a tool for wire nuts, or is hand-tight the standard now?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly96822d ago

That's just like using a torque wrench when your own feel is actually more reliable.

the_daniel22d ago

Ever notice how we keep adding tools to fix problems the tools themselves create? Like @kelly968 said about torque wrenches, sometimes the fancy fix messes with a simple, good process. Your hands give you feedback a tool can't, you feel the wire nut seat right and stop. I see this everywhere now, like people using apps for basic math they could do in their head. We get sold on a shortcut that actually adds more steps or risk later on. That old-timer was right, the "slower" way with your hands is the reliable one.