Well if you truly believe that electrical tape is fine for insulating wire connections then by all means go ahead and wire your entire house with black tape and see what happens.......
Like I said before, I come from a country where ALL houses have their whole wiring completely insulated with electrical tape. That is, the houses of
42 million people. Yet our fire departments are known for their personal constantly polishing their equipment. Furthermore, most countries in the World, with the exception of the US, UK, Canada and maybe Japan, use electrical tape as their exclusive means of insulation in houses, so that makes...what? 5 billion people? 6 billion?.
Add to that that, at least in my country, we also have natural gas piping run in the houses, as electricity is expensive, and yet, in 35 years living in a city with 8 million people, I saw far less fires than I saw in 11 years living in Miami, even when it has half the population, and no natural gas.
ALL WIRE not just some need a mechanical connection via clamping or soldering, a loose wrap of "black tape" will just lead to a loose connection and failure, when black tape gets warm it becomes elastic and also the adhesive begins to melt allowing the tape to "remove itself" creating a bare connection that could cause a fire. When a connection becomes loose, smaller amounts of wire are making the connection then in turn overloading that small connection then overheating it and creating a fire in your black tape haven of a home. How could you even sleep at night if you had wires in your walls of your house connected via "black tape"? I know i couldnt, i would worry on my way home if there will be fire trucks parked in front of my house. Remember, loose connections in wires are the leading cause of electrical house fires......
You need to go back and read a little.
I never said or implied that wire should be spliced with electrical tape. I clearly stated that wires should be properly spliced together before applying the tape
for the sole purpose of insulation. Not only that, but, if you try, you will realize it's almost impossible to tape 2 or more wires together, if you haven't twisted them together beforehand.
Besides that, tape doesn't become elastic when warm. Tape IS elastic by design, and is that elasticity that keeps it from "removing itself" when applied properly.
id really like to see 4/0 wire connected via electrical tape in an industrial facility. And for exposive enviroments, you wouldnt be using electrical tape either.... all connections would be in sealed boxes/conduits with explosion proof sealed outlets actually using a mechanical fasterner
Yeah, and I'd really like to see 4/0 wire spliced with wire nuts. But none of us will have his wish, because 4/0 wire is not spliced using either, but it's actually spliced using the kind of screw on connectors somebody (I think Bernie, but I'm not sure) linked before.
As per explosive environments, it depends on the environment. In some cases, electrical tape can be used. In others, self vulcanizing tape must be used on top of the electrical tape. And, finally, in the most explosive ones, insulation must be done exclusively with epoxy insulators (sorry, I don't know the right name in English. I'm talking the insulators in which you pour the epoxy inside a "tube" containing the splice.) In NO CASE wire nuts can be used in industrial environments (that is, outside the US and maybe the other countries I mentioned).
Do you really believe what you are saying? Do you not know what the underwriters laboratories are?
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/
I havent heard so much bad advice in a LONG time.... And i assume you think the iihs doesnt make cars safer either.....
Sorry, I started a policy of not replying to ad hominem attacks. As per "knowing what underwriters Laboratories are", I'd say, after a 32 year long career in electronics, I have a pretty good idea.
I've heard these discussions before on electrical boards. Without the proper mechanical connection, ie. twisting the wires together with your linesmens pliers, tape is less secure than (properly applied) wire nuts. I've seen (as you have with wire nuts) amateurs who feel joining the wires together and sealing with tape was a good job. (No need to use my pliers to twist them together...) (The best one yet was no twisting together and plastic wall anchors as wire nuts...) Properly twisted on (and twisted together) wire nuts are superior to just tape. As has been said here before, when the connection starts to heat up (or age), there goes the adhesive. Now I'm not UL, so I can't say I've used every type of tape, but the tape I have seen is crap. I still use it to insulate devices (outlets and switches) prior to shoving it into the box (metal or plastic), but wouldn't use it alone to insulate a splice.
BTW, The NEC is put out by the NFPA, not U/L (who don't exist in NYS anymore), and they ALWAYS go for safety. If they don't it's their azzes on the line. (See GFIs, Arc Fault breakers, 4 wire 220VAC wiring, etc).
You're comparing 2 different scenarios. Of course, properly installed wire nuts are superior to improperly used tape. Properly used tape is also superior to improperly used wire nuts. But on a PROPERLY spliced wire, tape is superior in every respect to wire nuts, short and long term. Add to that that it's a lot easier to see an improperly taped wire than it is to see an improperly used wire nut, and you can see why most of the World uses tape, even when it's more difficult and slower to use.
