Caught a bad splice before it sparked a fire - check your own work

I was at a job in Portland last month finishing up a new build and decided to double check the previous guy's work in the attic. At first glance everything looked fine but when I pulled the tape on one splice the conductor was barely making contact. It had been sitting like that for maybe 3 weeks and the jacket was already starting to discolor from heat. If that had been buried in a wall pack it could have started cooking slow and nobody would know until it was too late. Has anyone else been finding shoddy splices on new builds lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_murray81mo ago

Wired up a whole 4 unit condo last spring and found 4 splices in one attic that were just twisted together with a single wrap of tape. The first one I touched fell right apart. Started using Wagos for everything since then, mostly because they force you to strip the right amount and click them in. Saves time too if you have to go back and rework something.

tyler_fox411mo ago

@joseph_murray8 did those Wagos hold up when you had to pull one apart later for rework?

troy_palmer761mo ago

Hold on, four splices just twisted together with a single wrap of tape? That's wild, might as well have just held the wires in your fingers.