On Mar 25, 10:23*am, Peter wrote:
On 3/24/2012 5:26 PM, Doug wrote:



I thought about buying an older home built in the 50's in around
Houston, Texas but I was wondering about the electrical wiring.

a) *does anyone know if aluminum wiring was used, when this area
switched over to copper wiring?

b) briefly what advantages does copper have over aluminum?

c) *without pulling off outlet/switch plates, is there an easy way to
tell if the house has aluminum or copper wiring? * Can aluminum wiring
use a breaker box or only fuses?

d) for a 1 story 1500 sq foot home circa 50's, what an electrician
might charge to switch wiring?

e) advice buying an older home with respect to electrical wiring?

I bought the house I'm currently living in in 1987. *It was built in
1970 and has aluminum wiring. *At the time of sale I required the seller
to swap out every wall receptacle and switch with COALAR units and the
work to be done by a licensed electrician.

Every house in my subdivision was built at the same time with the same
wiring. *Neither me nor any of my neighbors (to my knowledge) has had
any problems related to the aluminum wiring. *We all have circuit
breaker panels.

....

I used to take off the face plates every year and check to see if the
wire loops were loosening under the screw heads but gave up that
exercise after about 3 years when none were noted to have become loose.

....

Studies have shown that the loose connections first appear at 3.1
years. ;-)

....


I'm well aware of the supposed risks associated with aluminum wiring and
I would have preferred to have copper. *However, my experience has not
been bad. *I suspect that if the homeowner respects the amperage ratings
of each breaker circuit and avoids overloads, they will not have
problems. *Copper is more forgiving of overloads due to lower resistance
and therefore less heating and attendant expansion/contraction at
connections.- Hide quoted text -

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