Safety question with stripping

[Hemgs1]

I have had a major house fire before, so I am a bit paranoid about electrical.

Recently we had a outlet where one of the wires came loose. Upon inspection I also notice the wires were stripped back pretty far. The house is 4 years old, but when we moved in last year noticed most outlet were wiggly in the wall and the dry wall looked like it got cut by a kindergartner with a butter knife.

I did tighten up the outlets right after we moved in but I didn’t check for loose connections. The recent situation is making me want to double check everything.

My biggest question is about the stripping, see attached photo, is it being cut that far back a safety issue? If so I may have to hire out someone to go through everywhere to fix it. If it is simply checking for loose wires I can do that.

Any advice is appreciated. Sorry if I’m being a bit paranoid, but I have no desire to deal with another fire or put my family at risk.

 

[Megawatt]

I have had a major house fire before, so I am a bit paranoid about electrical.

Recently we had a outlet where one of the wires came loose. Upon inspection I also notice the wires were stripped back pretty far. The house is 4 years old, but when we moved in last year noticed most outlet were wiggly in the wall and the dry wall looked like it got cut by a kindergartner with a butter knife.

I did tighten up the outlets right after we moved in but I didn’t check for loose connections. The recent situation is making me want to double check everything.

My biggest question is about the stripping, see attached photo, is it being cut that far back a safety issue? If so I may have to hire out someone to go through everywhere to fix it. If it is simply checking for loose wires I can do that.

Any advice is appreciated. Sorry if I’m being a bit paranoid, but I have no desire to deal with another fire or put my family at risk.

That is plum ugly with no pride in the so called electricians work. Install receptacles with back stabs instead of stripping that much wire to wrap around the screw. Actually in the US an inspector can fail a job if neat workmanship is not applied

 

[Megawatt]

If live exposed copper touches drywall nothing much will happen unless it gets damp, in which case the drywall surface could become live to the touch around the outlet. Copper touching anything other than the actual connection terminal is not really acceptable practice.

I don't know how the NEC codes it, but in the UK electrical regulations we have a catch-all that states that good quality materials and proper workmanship must be used. This can be used to call out installers for rough work even if it ticks the specific boxes. E.g. they put the right size and kind of wire in the right type of receptacles, but the insulation is chewed up or the screw threads are stripped or some aspect falls significantly short of what a competent electrician would be expected to achieve.

FWIW as mentioned above, in the UK we mostly use back-wired terminals with recessed screws, so it is unusual to see any live metal that can be touched, and the same goes for the ends of the wires. I normally make the insulation stop about 1/8" into the entry funnel of the back-wiring port. You could literally run your fingers all over a live switch or outlet removed from the wall without getting shocked.

@Lucien I can’t see a viable reason that the wire manufacturing factory’s don’t put insulation on the ground wire in Romex. As you say it is dangerous and I can’t count how many times I’ve been shocked with the way our devices are made

 

[Hemgs1]

So I was replacing outlets and on one of my outlets I nicked up the copper pretty good so I trimmed it off and restriped it. My question is if one hot wire going into the outlet is longer than the other one, since I have to cut one twice, does that matter?

I can’t believe it would, but I figured I would ask to be safe.

 

[Megawatt]

So I was replacing outlets and on one of my outlets I nicked up the copper pretty good so I trimmed it off and restriped it. My question is if one hot wire going into the outlet is longer than the other one, since I have to cut one twice, does that matter?

I can’t believe it would, but I figured I would ask to be safe.

Never cut the wire unless it’s burnt. By code you should have 6 inches of wire hanging out of all boxes

 

[GBDamo]

That is plum ugly with no pride in the so called electricians work. Install receptacles with back stabs instead of stripping that much wire to wrap around the screw. Actually in the US an inspector can fail a job if neat workmanship is not applied

"Yeah but I can smash out four a day bro and I'm never shrot of work. Earning megabucks, buying oversized site radios, blazzin tunes to annoy you slow old farts."

 

[westward10]

Never cut the wire unless it’s burnt. By code you should have 6 inches of wire hanging out of all boxes

Now that is interesting, 6 inches from the face of the wall or 6 inches from the entry to the back box.

 

[Megawatt]

Now that is interesting, 6 inches from the face of the wall or 6 inches from the entry to the back box.

@westerward10 it is 6 inches of wire coming out of the face of the box so you can terminate your wires. Happy Easter and have a great day

 

[littlespark]

Safety when stripping?

make sure the floor isn’t slippery, and any metallic pole is bonded.

?

 

[Soi disant]

Someone had to go for it....

 

[littlespark]

Someone had to go for it....

Wait until someone brings the “6 inches” Into an inappropriate statement.....

 

[telectrix]

Never cut the wire unless it’s burnt. By code you should have 6 inches of wire hanging out of all boxes

intresting. here 6" of wires hanging out, we'd never get them into the boxes. some light switch boxes are only 5/8" deep. (most of us try and use 1" boxes for switches, or deeper for dimmers /smart switches).

 

[Megawatt]

intresting. here 6" of wires hanging out, we'd never get them into the boxes. some light switch boxes are only 5/8" deep. (most of us try and use 1" boxes for switches, or deeper for dimmers /smart switches).

We use 50 mm deep plastic boxes

 

[Mike Johnson]

In the UK most electrical work is in older properties where solid walls are the norm and metal box's have to be recessed into the brick or block, hence the 1" deep, or at most 1.3", on more modern construction where we have started to follow the US trend for timber studding larger box's can be used, but are not readily available.

 

[MJPD29]

50mm wouldn't be viable in a lot of jobs here when recessed into brick or block. Although sometimes it would make life easier

 

[Megawatt]

50mm wouldn't be viable in a lot of jobs here when recessed into brick or block. Although sometimes it would make life easier

In my opinion I don’t think I could do what y’all have to go through to add outlets etc. or anything else. I applaud everyone on this forum