View Full Version : Wire Nuts
So my efforts to organize the garage and various bins full of "stuff" continues.
However, I'm finding myself challenged with wire nuts. I've collected over time a bunch of little baggies, clamshell cases, and boxes of wire nuts, from several different manufacturers. Ideal, Commercial Electric, GB, etc. I had thought that wire nuts in general were universally sized based on color. So a red wire nut from one company more or less is the same as a red nut from another company. But maybe this is not the case? I have a small package of yellow nuts for example that look like they have a smaller core than the "GB WireGard" nuts that I have in another package. So are they all different depending on who makes them?
I'm looking to move all these various nuts into a single container with labels, and was hoping I could just throw all the yellow ones together, etc. and label with the AWG sizes appropriate.
But if they are in fact all different, I guess I could just pick a manufacturer and throw out the rest. Any reason why one manufacturer is better than another? 5mins on the internet seems to suggest most sparkys prefer Ideal, but can't explain why. If nothing else, this exercise is teaching me that there's no reason to save every little bag of screws, wire nuts, etc. that comes with every product, in case I'll need it later. I'm probably better off tossing all the misc stuff in a trash bucket rather than trying to keep and sort it.
How many are you planning on throwing out? If it's a lot, I'll take them.
SideShow Bob
02-21-2018, 19:20
They should be sized by color, the “cores” on some are not as deep as others.
Yellow, red, tan, grey, blue in ascending order to size.
How many are you planning on throwing out? If it's a lot, I'll take them.
I don't have a ton, but if I do get rid of them, they're yours. I'm hoping to keep and sort them though, and someone's going to confirm they're all really the same and I'm "nuts".
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Yeah, colors should be the same.
They should be sized by color, the “cores” on some are not as deep as others.
Yellow, red, grey, blue in ascending order to size.
OK, so in theory at least, they are supposed to be the same plus or minus a little variation per manufacturer? That has me feeling a bit better since that's what I've been assuming all along, and I started getting confused when reading online that they might all be different standards.
I measured the opening end of the metal core on those two yellow ones I'm looking at, and it's 4.5mm (marked P4) vs 5.75mm (marked GB4), but maybe to your point, they're the same closer to the tip but just one extends up more and has a wider opening then...
Trying to look up the specs didn't help much as there didn't seem to be much consistency with how they label min/max
GB) min 6 #22, max 3 #12 vs. P4) min 3 #20, max 2#12 w/ 2 #14 - same ballpark but it seems they're all over the place in how they label them.
We did some work for some folks that had moved here from Scotland a few years ago to the Pinery $$$ (parker).
They had never seen them. I was surprised.
We did some work for some folks that had moved here from Scotland a few years ago to the Pinery $$$ (parker).
They had never seen them. I was surprised.
They probably use Jameson bottles as junction boxes.
Wolfshoon
02-21-2018, 22:51
We did some work for some folks that had moved here from Scotland a few years ago to the Pinery $$$ (parker).
They had never seen them. I was surprised.
Ah, the Pinery. Co-worker there had to re-do every outlet in his house with special AL to CU pigtails since the older houses there were built with aluminum wiring instead of copper. He had remodeled a room and county electrical inspector wrote up the whole house, that remodel got very expensive. Aluminum corrodes over time with the small wires in the wire nuts and then creates high resistance = fire. Special crimping tool and anti-corrosion gel connectors for the AL to CU pigtails.
As to wire nuts, they are sized by color as the standard. The Large plastic jars they sell them in now work good, as do clear plastic warehouse food containers once you eat the food.
generally,
Blue Wire-Nut Good choice for ballast wire connections.
Orange Wire-Nut Commonly used with light or fan fixtures for connection to switch wire(s).
Yellow Wing-Nut Commonly used to connect 2 #14 or 2 #12 wires.
Tan Twister Commonly used to connect 2 to 3 #14 or #12 wires.
Red Wing-Nut Commonly used to connect 3 to 4 #14 or #12 wires, or 3 #10.
Forgot on Blue these are generally gell filled for underground wiring or specialty for connecting aluminum to copper depending on markings etc or if really small for 2 22 gauge wires as mentioned above just to make it more confusing
good chart here for more info
https://www.platt.com/CutSheets/Ideal/Ideal-WireConnectors-CatalogPage.pdf
It's hell being a packrat sometimes ain't it?
It's hell being a packrat sometimes ain't it?
Ugh. :)
As a kid, I used to think my dad was so cool how he had just tons and tons of "dad stuff". Both grandpas too, and apparently at least one great grandpa, so I come from a long line. My wife's family, on the other hand, moved all the time and basically never had clutter at all. So there's that... :)
On the fun side, organizing all this stuff has given me something to do on long conference calls. Gives me something to do with my hands while I listen to multi-hour long meetings.
generally,
Blue Wire-Nut Good choice for ballast wire connections.
Orange Wire-Nut Commonly used with light or fan fixtures for connection to switch wire(s).
Yellow Wing-Nut Commonly used to connect 2 #14 or 2 #12 wires.
Tan Twister Commonly used to connect 2 to 3 #14 or #12 wires.
Red Wing-Nut Commonly used to connect 3 to 4 #14 or #12 wires, or 3 #10.
Thx, glad I'm not as crazy as I thought I might be...
Ah, the Pinery. Co-worker there had to re-do every outlet in his house with special AL to CU pigtails since the older houses there were built with aluminum wiring instead of copper. He had remodeled a room and county electrical inspector wrote up the whole house, that remodel got very expensive. Aluminum corrodes over time with the small wires in the wire nuts and then creates high resistance = fire. Special crimping tool and anti-corrosion gel connectors for the AL to CU pigtails.
Family member just bought a house down outside of Franktown that has all AL wiring, and he has to pigtail every outlet, light, switch, etc. Yeah, those fancy pigtail adapters are apparently not cheap.
We did some work for some folks that had moved here from Scotland
They probably use Jameson bottles as junction boxes.
I'm not sure whether the Scots or the Irish would be more offended by this comment... :D
Great-Kazoo
02-22-2018, 01:12
I was going to suggest some more iron in your diet. Then realized it was regarding electrical items.
I'm not sure whether the Scots or the Irish would be more offended by this comment... :D
I was trying to offend them both at the same time as not doing a Google search for Scottish brands of whisky so...double win for me!
Ugh. :)
As a kid, I used to think my dad was so cool how he had just tons and tons of "dad stuff". Both grandpas too, and apparently at least one great grandpa, so I come from a long line. My wife's family, on the other hand, moved all the time and basically never had clutter at all. So there's that... :)
On the fun side, organizing all this stuff has given me something to do on long conference calls. Gives me something to do with my hands while I listen to multi-hour long meetings.
In the 60's my oldest brother took buckets to auto salvage yards and would nab all the wierdest fasteners, clamps, brackets, etc. he could find. I thought he was crazy, but found myself digging through those buckets regularly.
Forgot on Blue these are generally gell filled for underground wiring or specialty for connecting aluminum to copper depending on markings etc or if really small for 2 22 gauge wires as mentioned above just to make it more confusing
Those are different, they are a light blue. The regular ones are dark blue and pretty small, they mostly used for low voltage stuff like furnace/thermostat wires and so on.
SideShow Bob
02-25-2018, 09:25
Here’s a picture of the wire nuts in ascending size, left to right.
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