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[email protected] PlainBill@yawhoo.com is offline
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Default Overload an electrical outlet?

On Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:03:02 -0500, Jon Elson
wrote:

wrote:


NORMALLY a 15 amp outlet is wired with 14 guage copper, but many homes
built in the 60's and 70's used 12 guage aluminum wire.

AIEeeeee! Not the aluminum wire thing again! The combination
of aluminum wire and outlets and other fixtures not specifically designed
for it has burned down a LOT of houses. Also, those ghastly spring-clip
outlets and switches that you poke the stripped wire into instead of
tightening a screw onto the wire are not reliable over time. If the OP
has aluminum wire, he should have it all ripped out and replaced as soon
as possible. Geez, the insurance companies ought to be paying people
to search out and replace that stuff! Probably not a whole lot of the
aluminum wire remains, it would have caused problems and quit working
if it didn't start a fire. That stuff has to be almost 50 years old by now.

Jon

I took this up with a professional electrician. He STRONGLY suggested
replacing the run from the power meter to the main circuit breaker
panel. He felt the rest of the wiring should be fine. As far as how
common aluminum wiring is, you are wildly optomistic. This house in
Arizona was built in 1969, my previous house in Florida was built in
1976. Both were wired with aluminum wire. So was virtually every
other tract home built in those states in that time period.

PlainBill