Every switch and receptacle has side screws that are meant to have the wire ends curled around them and then fastened down by the screw. However, in the back of these devices the manufacturer also installs little holes where the wire ends can be pushed into and then be tightened with the side screws. But why is this an inferior connection? After about 4-5 years, the mechanical motion of push and pull (plugging in and unplugging your device) loosens the wire connections in the back until the wire end either pulls out or eventually arks/melts off. The latter will also cause the sensitive arc fault breakers to trip, which can be a real nuisance.

Now imagine twisting the wire around a screw instead. Without even tightening the screw, you can tug on the wire and it will not come loose. This is the long lasting solution, keeping your devices operable and avoiding breaker tripping. Why would anybody rather backstab than install it around the screw? Speed, of course! It’s much faster to backstab, which is why we see it so often in subdivisions, but it’s also against electrical code.

So what should you do if you know that your devices (especially receptacles) have been backstabbed? To save you many future service calls, we recommend having all affected devices replaced at once. The constant overheating makes wires very brittle, and we often find receptacles that have the wires melted into the back slots but are still miraculously working until one day the wire breaks right off.