When I purchased our house the previous owners recently installed electric baseboard heaters in rooms A, B and C. I did not want to keep these but needed more outlets so I had swapped the breaker at the panel so I could run 110 volt instead of 220 volt.
Originally the feed line (from the panel) ran from the panel to the heater in room A. It was then spliced directly on the unit and a line ran to rooms B and C. After removing the baseboard units I ran the feed line to the outlet in room A. I ran a line from the outlet to a junction box, then spliced in the lines that go to rooms B and C.
Last night, one of the outlets that is connected at the junction box stopped working, then started working but received very little power. I immediately cut the power to the line at the panel. The other two outlets were working properly. It was really late so I didn't dig into the problem too much but did verify that the connections at the outlet were tight. I am assuming the problem is somewhere in the junction box.
Since the lines were originally running 220 they used some 12/2 wire. When I put in the junction box I had a hard time getting a good twist on the wires before putting on a wire nut and was worried that at some point they would come loose. I am pretty sure I used the red wire nuts which I think should be the correct ones, right? I don't think wrapped them in electrical tape but should I? Any tips on how I can keep this from happening again?
Best Answer
You have to use the right size wire nuts, and you have to put them on correctly. If you recall correctly, you have the right size, so you may not have put it on firmly enough. Another common problem is not having all the wires at the same length, so that one is not as well connected. Only when connecting stranded and solid should the stranded be just a bit longer/further into the nut than the solid wire(s).
You may find it easier to use a nut with "Wings" that make it easier to twist forcefully.
Do NOT pre-twist the wires. The wires, stripped to proper length (per instructions of the wire connector - look on the box) and aligned with each other are twisted BY the wirenut as it's installed (some instructions may say "pretwist optional" but in point of fact I find that it works best if the twisting is all done by the wirenut.)
Tape does nothing to prevent or solve a poor connection.