David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 3/4/2009 10:36 PM The Daring Dufas spake thus:

A lot of the big wire I've run has been aluminum.
The city electrical code around here prohibits any
aluminum conductors smaller than #2 in house wiring.
All the drops from the power company are aluminum
and there are few problems with properly installed
wiring of that type. The stuff I've seen burn up
was because of the wrong type of connectors, devices
and lack of anti-oxidation compound. Ignorance kills.

I'd never use aluminum in my own work. Not that there's anything
intrinsically wrong with it, as you describe; just that I'm not
experienced enough with it not to worry about problems.

Hasn't the cost of copper dropped over the last few months (along with
oil)? According to Bloomberg, it's selling for about $168 a pound
(copper futures: http://bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/cfutures.html).



The price for a number of items manufactured with copper
hasn't dropped yet. Last week, I replaced a 90 volt DC drive
motor for a good customer and because of the high price, I
told him where to get it so I wouldn't have to mark it up.
A few years ago, the same motor cost around $300.00 and this
newest one was more than $500.00. Even with the lower cost
of things, nobody's spending any money. Perhaps if BeeHO would
shut up, the market would quit dropping and the economy would
perk up. We need some work! Money stimulates my package.
*snicker*

TDD