Hot take: Wirenuts are still better than push-in connectors for most residential work

I've been using push-in connectors for about 6 months now on new construction, but last week I had to pull a wire in a jam box and the connector popped right off. I'll stick with wirenuts for anything that might need troubleshooting later, they just hold tighter.

2 comments

2 Comments

amy_sanchez6d ago

Hell yeah, preach it! I had almost the exact same thing happen on a service call last month. Tried to swap out a bad switch and one of those push-in connectors just let go when I barely bumped the wire. Wasted ten minutes fishing it back out of the wall. Wirenuts are ugly but they grip like a pitbull, and I've never had one just pop off on me unless I twisted it on wrong. For troubleshooting or old work where you know you'll be in and out, wirenuts are the only way to go.

averywright5d ago

Oh man, that's frustrating! A buddy of mine tried using those push-in connectors on a ceiling fan install last summer. He got the whole thing wired up, hit the switch, and nothing happened. Turned out one of the wires had just slipped out when he tucked the box back in the ceiling. He had to pull the whole fan down, redo the connection with a wirenut, and it worked fine after that. Said he'll never trust those things again for anything that's gonna see any movement.