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Home single-pole wall switch question

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Stevewoods, Oct 13, 2022.

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  1. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Yep, there is -- and yes -- I have replaced a number of backstabbed outlets and switches. And, if there is enough room, I always try to poke through the release slot and release the wire. And ONLY once was I able to do so. Don't know -- guess it's just me. But destroying the switch to get the wire out is pretty quick and easy and gives me a small amount of satisfaction :eek::eek:

    This time, the wires were extremely short and I had no room to get my small screwdriver in the release slot. Guess I could have trudged back out to the garage and tried a small hex key -- the "L" shape would have worked, but I had the vise grips in hand and a quick clamp and yank on the metal fastening plate and the entire front of the switch peeled away. As I said, it was the bottom of the barrel switch in quality. Sort of glad to have it out of there, just for that reason. I did not look too closely, but saw no evidence inside of any issue.

    At least once over the years, I have seen black charring inside a switch I pulled apart while replacing.
     
    #21 Stevewoods, Oct 15, 2022
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2022
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  2. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    I have seen backstab switches overheat and break apart. Usually with higher current loads like ceiling fans with lights. After twenty years. But I want my switches to last fifty years or more and never fall apart under load.
     
    #22 rjparker, Oct 15, 2022
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  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Pigtails and wirenuts or wagos are completely acceptable and far better than backstabbing.
     
    #23 rjparker, Oct 15, 2022
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  4. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Are not wagos just a fancy backstab? Almost used them earlier this year, but decided wirenuts ...
     
    #24 Stevewoods, Oct 15, 2022
  5. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Wagos are better than backstab as they are not a simple push in connection. They use a lever to tighten or release the connection. In general a wirenut is able to carry many times the rated current because the wires themselves are touching but wagos can carry just as much. Both tend to melt their thermoplastic covers on extended severe overcurrents before losing connection. The big advantage of a wago is reduced size in a tight box, their disadvantage is cost.

    There are many destructive testing videos comparing them. Here is one using 60 amps through 20 amp connectors. At the end of the video there is a clip of the manufacturer pumping 120 amps which does melt them.

     
    #25 rjparker, Oct 15, 2022
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2022
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  6. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Eeeekkk .... Light in ceiling fixture now flickers every 40 seconds or so -- when the switch is off.
    Noticed while lying in bed at 1 a.m. when I could not sleep.

    Thought for sure house was going to burn down so I flipped off the breaker. Now I really can't sleep. However, combing the web on my phone I find it is not advised to use fluorescent lamps with lighted toggle switches just because of this issue.

    Whew. Swapping out the CFL for an LED when real morning comes...and I only used the lighted switch because that was all the small local store had in stock last week...ah well...I have a bin of LED bulbs.
     
    #26 Stevewoods, Oct 21, 2022
  7. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    LEDs are also readily available now.

    Been considering taking the unused CFLs I have to a local thrift store.
     
    #27 Trollbait, Oct 21, 2022
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  8. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Yes, the 'lighted' switch—unless it has its own neutral terminal for the power to return from its built-in light, which is rare, and unless you have a neutral wire pulled to that switch box for it, which is also rare—is designed to return the tiny amount of power for the internal light through the downstream lights on the circuit. When those are ordinary incandescent light bulbs, that small amount of power doesn't light them up, and all seems hunky-dory.

    That small amount of power may well flicker a CFL or an LED light.

    Maybe the small local store has so many lighted switches in stock because they don't sell so well these days.
     
    #28 ChapmanF, Oct 21, 2022
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  9. Stevewoods

    Stevewoods Senior Member

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    Well, did some reading around -- what else to do at 3 a.m.?

    And, yes, found LEDs often have the same reaction to lighted switches. Rooted around and found I had about a dozen 60 watt incandescent bulbs, so I have no intention of touching the switch until those bulbs are gone -- with luck, they will outlast me.:)
     
    #29 Stevewoods, Oct 21, 2022
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