Let's Talk About Aluminum Wiring

Ann I wasn't even aware that type of wiring existed in houses.  Glad you asked the question because I got a lot out of Russel Ray's response.

I just remembered that I had contributed to the Wikipedia discussion about aluminum wiring several years ago. Check it out here.

Hey, Ann.

As noted in the Wikipedia discussion. aluminum wiring has been implicated in home fires but not definitively. It was usually damaged wiring or wiring not installed correctly that caused the fire. Copper wire under the same circumstances would have caused a fire, too.

There is relatively new technology on the market -- Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters -- that are intalled in the electric panel for 15- and 20-amp branch circuits that can prevent the types of fires often caused by damaged wire, loose wires, and improperly installed wires.

Here's another useful web site.

there Ann

Aluminum wiring, is one especially hazardous condition, that professional electricians inadvertently helped to create. Throughout the 1960's, aluminum was promoted as a low- cost alternative to expensive copper cable. The connections will corrode and heat up. In 1971 the Underwriter's Laboratories called for stricter listings. In the meantime, there was many homes and lives that were lost to fires that could have been avoided.

The problem with aluminum is that over time and usage, where it joins to outlets, switches, appliances and so on, it can actually help it to unwind from a fitting, and loose fittings can cause arcing, which can lead to a fire. Whereever it makes contact with plugs or appliances, an approved connector, that is sometimes marked ( CO/ALR ) musted be used.

Dale commented on the hazards of aluminum wiring, but many of those hazards can be controlled by applying anti-oxidant paste to the ends of the wires, and by installing Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters in the electric panel, and by cutting off the ends of the aluminum wiring and splicing with copper wire, a "pigtail." The splice must use approved CU/AL connectors (inadvertently noted in Dale's post as "CO/ALR" connectors). Such connectors should explicitly state that they are approved for CU/AL connections, not "sometimes."

(I think Dale was having a bad typing day.)

I cannot help thinking that this is a hard sell to get a seller to pay for this service. The first argument would be "The home made it this long."

Have seen two old old mobile homes that had aluminum wiring.   Was it that much cheaper to make them with the silver stuff rather than copper?

Ann,

I am also in St. Louis and one of the inspectors I use is Frank Reuther.  He has been doing inspections about 17-18 years.  When I asked him about it he said, " it's in the house I have lived in about 30 years and I have no plans to change it!"  Bill