Speedy Jim wrote:

wrote:

Yep it is a big deal. No way to tell from the picture if the charger
was at
fault or the outlet was to blame. Looks like AL wiring, Ace hardware
has the
best deal on small quanties of AL devices that I have found. My home
is AL
as well.

Might be time to check your devices and look for the AL-CU rating on
them.
Properly installed there is nothing wrong with AL. NOTICE I said
properly
installed. When I moved into my home I checked all of the outlets and
replaced all of the switches, SO wanted rocker ones. Found a few
that were
a tad loose. Gee installed in 1975 I am not surprised.



Yep its aluminum wiring. Could you please clarify "check your devices
and look for the AL-CU rating on them."? and what you mean when you
say "AL Devices"? I know next to nothing about this stuff.


Devices listed for use with aluminum wire are marked CO/ALR. The worst
devices have steel screws.

Thanks!


There is a good explanation he
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm
with links to more.


This site has the best information I have seen on aluminum wiring. Last
I looked most of it was derived from the Cosumer Product Safety
Commission which reportedly tried to force a recall.

The best link in the above site is
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/alreduce.htm
This is a paper based on extensive testing of aluminum connections for
the CPSC and gives a wide range of fixes for aluminum wiring. Note
particularly the advice to apply anti oxide paste to the wire and then
abrade it. Very specific on what to do and brands. If I had aluminum
wire I would probably wire nut a copper pigtail to devices.

If indeed you have a home with aluminum wiring
you could be sitting on a serious problem.
Today's incident may just be a taste of events waiting to happen.
(I don't mean to sound alarmist.)


Agree.

See:
http://chrisdhilton.com/newsletters/aluminum_wiring.htm

and GOOGLE: CO/ALR or Aluminum Wiring

Dig up all the info you can before making any rash decisions.

Jim