Replies

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Dec 13, 2003 01:39am | #1

   Yes, it matters. They have a spiral-shaped spring inside them that sort-of grabs the wires and holds them tight. Your twisting needs to match the direction of the spriral, and that means......

   Clockwise.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.
2. 
   junkhound | Dec 13, 2003 02:22am | #2

   try it, CW is obvious.

   nominee for dumbest querry of the year / <G>

1. 
   Novy | Dec 13, 2003 02:26am | #3

   Be nice now

   On a hill by the harbour

2. 
   Gunner | Dec 13, 2003 03:48am | #5

   He had my nomination when he used the S word.Who Dares Wins.

1. 
   junkhound | Dec 13, 2003 04:03am | #7

   Hey Rick, best "fun" I've ever had on the job was BIG sparks, biggest was a 4 megamp, 2 MJ  bang .......  <G>

   PS: for the non "sparkies", MJ and megamp are NOT epigrams for the local prostitution ring  <G>

1. 
   Gunner | Dec 13, 2003 04:19am | #9

     I dropped a piece of mc cable into the buss bar of a four hundred amp panel a couple of years ago. It was like three o'clock in the morning and the rest of the guys were jack hammering out a night drop. (sounds shady but it was legit) Anyway, big boom, blue ball lights up the utility closet, the main kicks, the building goes black and for some reason the air compressor died at the same time. I'm just standing there in dead black silence trying to gather my wits when I hear the foreman holler from the other side of the bank. " TURN THOSE FARKING LIGHTS ON!" I hollered back. YEP I'M ALRIGHT, THANKS FOR WORRYING!" Then everyone started laughing Hystericaly, it took the guy a minute to realize what a selfish #### he was being.

   Who Dares Wins.

   Edited 12/12/2003 8:21:39 PM ET by Gunner

1. 
   fireball | Dec 13, 2003 04:53am | #11

   I hate it when that happens.

2. 
   DaveRicheson | Dec 13, 2003 04:24am | #10

   Depends on where you are when the "fun" happens. I just took a 120v, 20 amp hit from a loose wire nut. Most of it went to ground on the metal box, but enough got me to dig a divot in the heal of my right hand. Laying on my belly reaching benaeth a raised panel floor, tracing and removing circuites in our telecom room. Don't know which hurt worse, the burn divot, bumped head from reacting to the flash, or the embarrasement of not having locked out all the circuites in that j-box. To compuond matters it cost $500.00 to replace the fusses in the UPS gear that I took out with the ground fault.

   Not a good day, because I made a mistake and someone did not put a wire nut on correctly.

   Dave

3. 
   4Lorn2 | Dec 13, 2003 03:16am | #4

   matters. Clockwise. Clockwise looking directly at the top of the wirenut.

   Counter-clockwise if your looking up at the open bottom of the wirenut doing a reach-around. Also counter-clockwise if you are observing yourself through a mirror. At least if the top of the connector faces the mirror.

   Also counter-clockwise if your FIL lives in a parallel universe based on antimatter. That is unless he is observing himself through a mirror.

   But there again the clocks would likely run backwards so clockwise.

1. 
   rjw | Dec 13, 2003 03:58am | #6

   LOL

   Don't you also have to consider the direction of the spiral around the tub drain and thus look at northern or soutrhern hemisphere?

   _______________________

   Tool Donations Sought

   I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.

1. 
   DaveRicheson | Dec 13, 2003 04:13am | #8

   Or as Pogo would say, "which is the right side of the mirror?, heads or tails?"

   Dave

2. 
   SteveInCleveland | Dec 13, 2003 08:11pm | #26

   Does it matter whether you are North or South of the equator?

4. 
   jimmyk | Dec 13, 2003 04:59am | #12

   If you and/or your FIL don't know the answer to that question a hope you never ever ever even consider thinking about doing ANY electrical work yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. 
   4Lorn2 | Dec 13, 2003 05:15am | #13

   Don't be so hard on the guy.

   I've met at least one person who called themselves an electrician who didn't know it. Didn't know about wrapping the wire around the screw clockwise either.

1. 
   mitch | Dec 13, 2003 06:05am | #14

   righty tighty, lefty loosey.

   m

1. 
   BossHog | Dec 13, 2003 04:06pm | #19

   "righty tighty, lefty loosey"

   That sounds too gay for me.

   I use: "Left is loose; Tight is right"I am very detail-oreinted.

1. 
   mitch | Dec 13, 2003 04:19pm | #20

   i wasn't referring to those kind of screws...  besides, we're talking about a female thread in the wire nut (ok- now there's something to ponder- "nuts" have female threads?).  always thought of that dumb little mnemonic expression as childish rather than homosexual.

   m

2. 
   BossHog | Dec 13, 2003 04:46pm | #21

   Well, I could go for "childish", or "sissy".

   Real men just don't say "lefty loosey, right tighty"Why is a bra singular and panties plural?

3. 
   mitch | Dec 13, 2003 05:15pm | #23

   real men say stuff like that all the time, but the delivery has to be right.  more specifically, so that everybody knows you're making a joke.  for example, in your most manly voice, "my 3 yr old daughter knows it's 'righty tighty, lefty loosey', can't you idiots keep that straight or do i need to hire her on as a foreman to remind you?"  or another possibility- with an exaggerated swishy lisp, "ok ladies, it's 'righty tighty, lefty loosey', just like it is on dollar chablis night at the Leather & Lace Social Club!"

   it's not supposed to be serious, besides, people remember things better when it's funny.

   m

4. 
   Sphere | Dec 13, 2003 05:16pm | #24

   Had to remember that for flat tires on old MOPARS..did they ever change that?...If he is on the left side of the house the wire nuts would go the other way..

   Edited 12/13/2003 9:27:01 AM ET by SPHERE

5. 
   mikerooney | Dec 13, 2003 05:55pm | #25

   SOMEBODY in my house keeps twisting the bread tie the wrong way - GRRR!

2. 
   Gunner | Dec 13, 2003 06:39am | #15

   I'll tell you another thing that a lot of people don't pay attention to. Proper sizing of wire nuts.Who Dares Wins.

3. 
   caseyr | Dec 13, 2003 07:42am | #16

   Don't be so hard on the guy about tightening the screw - I was trained in electronics and the AF school said to wind the wire around the screw so that when you pulled on it, you tightened the screw.  If you did it the otherway and somebody was rumaging around in the amplifier, or whatever, they could accidentally loosen the screw and give a high resistance contact point or an intermittent.  However, most of these wires were considerably smaller than those used in house wiring and were mostly multi-stranded. 

   So, I have to stop and think when doing wiring as to whether to wrap the wire around the screw the electrician's way or the electronic technician's way.  For computers and electronics, I still do it so that pulling the wire tightens the screw - for house wiring, particularly with sold wire, I do it the other way.

2. 
   zsmitty7 | Dec 13, 2003 09:12am | #17

   Relax everyone- It's Friday! 

   Like I said, I always went clock-wise.  Nobody told me to.  It just seemed to work best.  The other day, my FIL says I'm doing it backwards.  It's his house, so I don't argue.  Good thing the Fire Department is only 2 blocks away. LOL!

   And a thousand apoligies for using the "S" word.  I didn't know it was derogitory or disrespectful.  I'll remember to watch my manners from now on.

   BTW, if my question wins "Dumbest Question Of The Year", what will I win? ;-)

1. 
   calvin | Dec 13, 2003 03:44pm | #18

   You'll win jack ####Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   Quittin' Time

2. 
   Sphere | Dec 13, 2003 05:14pm | #22

   What do I win?/...That was the SECOND dumbest Question..LOL

3. 
   Gunner | Dec 13, 2003 08:49pm | #27

     Ahh it's alright. It just makes it hard to get past the arrogant part to be able to see the real you. It's always been a trigger word for me.

       Anyway yes it is clockwise, two reasons all the other 87 kagillion trillion wire nuts in service are installed that way so the next guy to come along will be expecting it, and because I said so. Now if he's confused about that make sure he's using the proper size wire nuts on his wire. Some people assume you can pick up anything and use it. You can't, and it really sucks sticking your hand or pliers in a live junction box to move a wire and having a wire nut  fall off. Ask Dave Richeson,Who Dares Wins.

1. 
   4Lorn2 | Dec 14, 2003 06:53am | #28

   Been there.

   Especially dicey if the circuit is 277v, all seven wires are stranded and your standing on the top of a 12' ladder, with no soft landing zone and holding on, for dear life, to a sprinkler pipe. Even worse if the connection is a neutral.

   For the uninitiated: A hot connection has one hot lead while the remainder are dead. A neutral connection often has one dead and the remainder live. Stranded wire when it comes apart at a connection scatter like quail. Solid conductors are a lot less lively.

   Electrical work can be fun.

1. 
   Gunner | Dec 14, 2003 05:23pm | #29

   Jezzus can the day get any better then that scenario?Who Dares Wins.

5. 
   lunar | Dec 14, 2003 09:53pm | #30

   After reading this post I just had to go try using a wire nut counterclockwise.

   I cannot see how anyone could possibly think counterclockwise was making a tight connection. Which leads me to two conclusions

   1. You and dad have a misunderstanding as to which end on the wire nut you are viewing when tightening (installer's perspective or the wire's perspective)

   2. You or your dad's clocks are screwed up

   Barring either of the above I will also vote your's as the question of the year.

   C

6. 
   HeavyDuty | Dec 15, 2003 08:44am | #31

   Your FIL a doctor? They always see things at the receiving end, in this case it's from the perspective of the wires.