Used to crimp every single connection for 10 years, finally switched to soldering on a house in Phoenix

I was one of those guys who swore by crimp connectors on everything. Thought soldering was slow and overkill for basic residential work. Then I got a call back on a house I wired in 2019 where three crimp joints had failed in the attic. The heat out here gets over 115 and the vibration from the AC unit just loosened them up over time. Spent a whole Saturday redoing those with a Weller iron and shrink tube. Now I only use crimps on stranded wire in boxes where I can see them, but anywhere enclosed or hot I solder the joint and tape it. It takes maybe 2 extra minutes per connection and I haven't had a single failure since 2021. Any of you guys in hot climates run into this with crimps failing?

2 comments

2 Comments

rose_hart24d ago

Damn, that's rough. I had something similar happen on a job in Las Vegas a few years back with some crimps in a garage attic space. The heat and the constant expansion and contraction over time just wrecked them, I ended up having to redo about a dozen connections. I switched to soldering after that too, it just feels more permanent once you get the technique down and add that shrink tube. Did you find a particular type of solder or flux that holds up better in those extreme temperatures?

rileynelson24d ago

Jumping in here cause I've been down this exact road. Yeah, for extreme temp swings like that attic stuff, I've had the best luck with a 60/40 rosin core solder, nothing fancy, just the standard stuff. The key for me was actually the flux though, I started using a liquid flux pen on the wire and connector before soldering, it helps the solder flow way better and fill those tiny gaps. And for shrink tube, I always get the adhesive lined kind, it melts and seals around the joint, keeps moisture out way better than the plain stuff. Just gotta be careful not to melt the insulation on the wire when you're heating it up, that's a pain to fix.