Fridgie here. Just got some manufacturer training on some equipment that uses R-290 (propane) as the refrigerant and one of the interesting things in that training is that this manufacturer requires the use of wago lever connectors for any repairs on that equipment. They specifically tell you not to use any wire nuts or crimp connectors.
Why would they specifically require wagos? As far as I was aware the main benefit of them was ease of use and that doesn’t seem like it would make any difference as far as the manufacturer is concerned. I especially fail to see how they could be more safe and robust than crimp connections. Is there something I’m missing here?
Wagos/lever connectors are less likely to be installed wrong. Wagos have an independent connector for each wire, and don’t care if you connect stranded and solid wires together.
It’s really easy to have a loose wire in a wire nut. It’s really easy to create a bad crimp, especially with crappy Harbor Freight/Amazon crimps. Soldered connectors are also not listed in repair specs for the exact same reason.
Wagos are more expensive, so they have to specifically call out the cheaper options to reduce the chances a manager will tell an under-trained tech to “just do it with a cheap wire nut, don’t waste money on those wagos.”
That’s all fair, but that the same time this was training for the technicians who are already trusted to perform complex brazing work on the system. It just seems weird that they trust the field techs enough to swing around an oxy-acetylene torch in a compartment chock full of burnable bits but they don’t trust us enough to make a good crimp.
You’re probably right as far as the reasoning goes. It just seems like a weird requirement to have for professional techs.
Just remember, every rule is because someone else fucked up.
They probably wouldn’t ask you to braze or work with pressure if there was another option.