(Censored) blue plastic electrical boxes!!!!

[JDgreen227]

Nothing beats knob and tube, in my book. Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Do you realize you are showing your age by mentioning that?

 

[GPintheMitten]

Do you realize you are showing your age by mentioning that?

Hey, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night.

 

[Budweiser John]

There is more than one grade of 'blue boxes'. The cheepies aren't worth bringing home but the better grades with the heaver wall are my choice. Menards inventory seems to be better quality than some of the other big box stores.
Regarding the 'old work' style, a common frustration is getting the screws on the holding tabs cross threaded after the box and wires are tucked back into the wall cavity. I've found it's a good idea to run the screws in and back out to insure the tabs will operate as advertised before installing the box and if available, a slight dollup of lubricant such as spray white grease will insure a cuss
free instillation.
Another suggestion, I always purchase the 22 cubic inch size so there is plenty of room for a GFI or spices as I always splice and pig tail the wires to the device and never use the 'stab' wire connectors in the back of outlets or switches. Drives me crazy to open a box only to find the available wire length to the device made 'shorter the better' by some wannabe electrician.. Leave plenty of wire to work with. At least 6" or more beyond the face of the box opening.

 

[aczlan]

There is more than one grade of 'blue boxes'. The cheepies aren't worth bringing home but the better grades with the heaver wall are my choice. Menards inventory seems to be better quality than some of the other big box stores.
Regarding the 'old work' style, a common frustration is getting the screws on the holding tabs cross threaded after the box and wires are tucked back into the wall cavity. I've found it's a good idea to run the screws in and back out to insure the tabs will operate as advertised before installing the box and if available, a slight dollup of lubricant such as spray white grease will insure a cuss free instillation.

A impact driver also works MUCH better than a drill for getting them mounted without stripping the screw heads.

Another suggestion, I always purchase the 22 cubic inch size so there is plenty of room for a GFI or spices as I always splice and pig tail the wires to the device and never use the 'stab' wire connectors in the back of outlets or switches. Drives me crazy to open a box only to find the available wire length to the device made 'shorter the better' by some wannabe electrician.. Leave plenty of wire to work with. At least 6" or more beyond the face of the box opening.

I agree, but I usually only leave 4" to my splice. 6-8" past that to the outlet itself.

Aaron Z

 

[grsthegreat]

some of the idiot apprentices ive hired over the years like to leave about 2 feet past the face of the box...they dont have to pay for it.

 

[s219]

some of the idiot apprentices ive hired over the years like to leave about 2 feet past the face of the box...they dont have to pay for it.

Let me guess, do they they wire up and jam all the slack into the box? Our first house was done like that and it was a mess of packed spagetti inside each box. I like to leave plenty of slack for working space and in case something needs to be redone in the future, but what those guys did was ridiculous. I am fairly certain it was not up to code, which does have some requirements about crowding and air space in boxes and conduits. If you can't easily fold the wire and move the receptacle/switch into place, it's too much wire in my opinion.

 

[aczlan]

If you can't easily fold the wire and move the receptacle/switch into place, it's too much wire in my opinion.

You mean stuffing a GFCI AND 3 12/2 wires with 12" of slack into a single gang box is a problem?

Aaron Z

 

[JDgreen227]

Let me guess, do they they wire up and jam all the slack into the box? Our first house was done like that and it was a mess of packed spagetti inside each box. I like to leave plenty of slack for working space and in case something needs to be redone in the future, but what those guys did was ridiculous. I am fairly certain it was not up to code, which does have some requirements about crowding and air space in boxes and conduits. If you can't easily fold the wire and move the receptacle/switch into place, it's too much wire in my opinion.

I saw a journeyman electrician one time who was wiring a new house, and he left about a foot of slack in the wires outside the boxes, then after attaching outlets and switches he used the end of a claw hammer handle to jam all the excess back into the box. I leave about 6" maximum outside the box. BTW, another member here posted about using a spade bit to drill into the plastic boxes...I like that solution, but many of the Carlon brand old work blue boxes have a tapered back section where the clamps are and if you drill a hole for a standard metal Romex connector, the ridges and reinforcements make it very hard to install a clamp because you cannot thread the nut on.

 

[grsthegreat]

i have also drilled and installed things like pvc connectors to plastic boxes in the past, but in reality this voids the UL rating of the box. not that that ever stopped me. But to date no inspector has never told me i cant do that. I mean lets face it, that wont affect the ratings of a piece of plastic.

now the real kicker is doing a remodel on an older house with plastic boxes. it takes next to no expenditure of energy to get the old boxes to explode when removing them from the stud. these boxes really degrade over time.

 

[Wakey]

Ahh.. memories :laughing: