Thnaks, Jim. I have lived in the house since 1972 so have visited most
wall boxes over the years... I think! Shortly after the bad news hit,
I went
through and replaced all the devices that aluminum touched. That's
when I learned that all the lighting circuits are wired with aluminum,
and all the
outlets (except the switched ones) are wired with copper. Not
once did I find anything that looked like there had been any arcing or
deterioration,
until now. In my opinion, the problem is heat in ceiling fixtures.
Fortunately, there
were only 4: kitchen, the 2 baths, and the laundry room. And, this is
the LAST
one of these to be replaced.

With help from this group, I recently ripped out all the aluminum in
the guest bathroom
going TO the lights and fan, replacing with copper. And yes, I used
the special
twist connectors with the goo inside on the Al/Cu connections.

Like everyone else, I wish I could rip all the aluminul out, but that
would be
a huge job. From the repairs and extensions I've done I know that all
the
cables are nailed to the studs 8" from the boxes at every wall box.
Moreover,
the wiring often dives through studs rather than just straight down
from the attic.
What that means is every wall box would have to have pulls down from
the attic,
bypassing existing cables entirely. For interior walls I could almost
see myself doing that.
But what brings be back to reality is all the boxes in exterior walls.
These walls
have fire breaks, and more often than not are in the walls at the edge
of shallow-slope
roof. I've done some of that kind of thing for a sound system and know
that the
stucco has to be broken through at the top and at the fire break. As I
said, a BIG job.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and I do appreciate the input!

Ed




Before doing anything, I would inspect *all*
the fixtures and maybe *all* the recepts.

If there is one problem, there are likely many.

IOW, get a handle on the scope of the situation
you're looking at.

Jim