On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 13:22:31 -0700, "Lane" lane (no spam) at
copperaccents dot com wrote:
"Gunner" wrote in message
A Vietnamese friend of mine asked me to come over and check out a
problem that he had with the wiring in his house. (I carried a
California C7-C10 for 16 yrs). Half the house was dead. I found all
the wiring in the house was aluminum. BRRRRRRR! At this point I knew
he was in trouble and recommended a current residential electrician.
Some hours later the electrician found an outdoors outlet had all the
wiring in it burned away, causing the 60's vintage house (4 breakers)
to loose power in the damnedest places. Split level, flat roof, on a
slab. No crawl space, no attic. I think he is going after the real
estate agent.....
I lived in a house that had aluminum wiring and I too had a problem with
wires burned at a outlet. Scared the hell out of me. I then went around
looking at every outlet, switch and ceiling light I could find and tightened
the screws. Some of them were very loose. Glad when I moved out.
If you find a house that has aluminum romex to the branch circuit
outlets and lights, the only safe solution is to call a specially
trained electrician and have all the outlets pigtailed. They use
special compression connectors and tooling that Tyco/AMP only leases,
never sells. I don't do it, and considering the numbers I heard
thrown around for training ($800) and monthly tool lease (lots), I
don't want to. (And I bet that you'd need a special liability
insurance for doing it, too, in case you screw up.) You'd have to
have a crew doing nothing but aluminum pigtailing all day, every day
to make it pay.
Or rip it all out and rewire with copper. ($$$) Tightening the
screws on the devices is NOT going to do it - the whole problem is
expansion and cold flow, and the connections self-loosen and start
arcing and overheating, creating a vicious cycle.
Myself, I vote for the rip-out all the AL wire and rewire with CU.
It's the only way to be sure you've got it all.
-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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