If I was doing it, I would use wire-nuts, but I would use the procedure
in the paper at
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/alreduce.htm
(This is a paper writen by a PhD Professional Engineer based on
extensive testing of aluminum connections done for the Consumer Product
Safety Commission. It includes a wide range of fixes for aluminum wiring
based on that research.)

In addition to a detailed procedure for connecting to CO/ALR devices,
the paper has a detailed procedure for using wire-nuts with aluminum
wire - including brand names. My impression is that wire-nuts, when
installed in accordance with the procedure, are more reliable than
CO/ALR devices (particularly in a wire-through configuration that has 2
connections to the device per wire splice).

Ideal #65 wire-nuts, which are probably the only UL listed ones for
aluminum wire, are definitely not recommended by the paper.

bud--



Harry Muscle wrote:
I have a question to do with the aluminum wiring I have in my house ...

There doesn't seem to be much objection to the safety of CO/ALR devices
(switches and oulets), unlike twist ons (read P.S.) The biggest
objection being that you can only change your switches and oulets, not
your lights, GFCI, etc.

My main problem that I still need a solution for in my home is
connecting my CU approved lighting to the AL wiring. What do you think
of the idea of using a CU/ALR outlet to make the transition between AL
and CU. I'd place an oulet box in my attic (all the lights I'm
concerned about have an attic above them), put an CU/ALR outlet in it,
connect the AL wire to two of the screws and connect the CU wire to the
other set of screws. The only thing left is the grounding wires which
I could connect to two seperate gounding screws in the box or if code
requires it use a twist on.

So has anyone ever tried this? Any comments, feedback, etc?

Thanks,
Harry

P.S. I know the Ideal-65 purple twist on connectors are considered safe
by some for pigtailing aluminum to copper wire, however, there's also
others who still consider them fire hazards. I'm hoping to stay away
from these if possible and would rather make any aluminum to copper
connections in some other way. Hence my question.