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Old electrician told me to use stranded wire for everything in my custom build
My uncle's buddy Bob, been wiring houses since the 80s, swore solid wire was junk and I should run stranded on every circuit. I did it for a 1,200 square foot place in Austin, and now I'm dealing with loose connections on half the switches because stranded doesn't hold tight in push-in terminals. Bob's advice was good for commercial work but terrible for residential rough-in. Anyone else run into a pro giving advice that's perfect for one setting but backfires in another?
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phoenix_campbell881mo ago
Buddy of mine in Dallas did the same thing on a 2,000 square foot rewire. He ran stranded on every circuit like a commercial sparky told him to. Took him two weekends to get all the switches seated right in the new boxes. Six months later he was back swapping out half the outlets because the push-in terminals started arcing. Ended up redoing all the terminations with screw terminals and it cost him another weekend and a case of beer. Stranded is great for flexing through conduit but solid is just easier for residential rough-in work.
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martin.vera1mo ago
Did you try putting the stranded ends in those little ferrules or just rawdog it?
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