Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Thanks for any input. Will return later to check any replies.

"Liza Rhoades" wrote in message
...
Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Aluminum wiring was used in that time frame.

You can use GFIs and protect circuits downstream, but they will not be
grounded. Grounded requires a ground conductor.

Aluminum wiring for lighting and outlets in gauges 12 for 15 amp and 10 for
20 amp was used off and on, I believe until the seventies. Its still very
popular in larger sizes
You can install GFCI protection at the head of a non grounded outlet circuit
to protect outlets on its load side, then replace the load side outlets with
grounding outlets(three prong) and mark them " GFCI protected, no grounding
conductor) labels are usually included with the GFCI device. This will
protect people, but not devices that require grounding


"Liza Rhoades" wrote in message
...
Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Thanks for any input. Will return later to check any replies.

Thanks "Charles" & "RBM". I am aware the outlets won't be grounded.
Just don't want to use the 3 prong cheaters.

Will check the alum wiring further, It's a nice, litlle time capsule of
a house. All electric with 200amp breaker box so that much ahead.
Liza

MLM wrote:
Thanks "Charles" & "RBM". I am aware the outlets won't be grounded.
Just don't want to use the 3 prong cheaters.

Will check the alum wiring further, It's a nice, litlle time capsule of
a house. All electric with 200amp breaker box so that much ahead.
Liza


Liza-

I'm surprised that a 1957 home would have aluminum branch
circuits....my experience (in SoCal) is that aluminum didn't start to
be used until he late 60's / early 70's

My parents home (1959, Orange County CA) has all copper in the branch
cirucits.
My house 1930 same.even the new work done in the 70's

here's a very short article on the issue
http://www.cornerstone-inspection.co...um_wiring.html

IMHO unless you really love this place & are getting a bargain....I'd
think twice about getting into a home with Al wiring unless you're
planning on having the Al/Cu pigtail thing done.

cheers
Bob

Liza Rhoades wrote:

Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Thanks for any input. Will return later to check any replies.

For 15 & 20A branch circuits, where aluminum is the potential problem,
it was allowed starting in the early 50s. It wasn't used much until
until about 1965 when aluminum became significantly cheaper than copper.
Problems became apparent and 1971 UL removed its listing on wire and
devices. Soon UL started listing new devices which are marked CU/ALR
along with a new alloy wire. The "old technology" wire and devices may
be in dwelling constructed or modified 1965-1973. About 2 million
dwellings have the old wiring.

Aluminum wire has a distinctive silvery apearance, although some older
rubber insulated copper wire may be "tinned" which is also silvery.

A lot of information on aluminum branch circuit wiring is at:
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/aluminum.htm
Last time I looked, most of the information was derived from an
investigation on aluminum wiring done by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission.
If you have aluminum wiring the best information on fixes I have seen is at:
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/alreduce.htm
This is a "paper" writen by a professional engineer, based on extensive
testing of aluminum connections for the CPSC, and gives a wide range of
fixes.

--
bud--

BobK207 wrote:
MLM wrote:

Thanks "Charles" & "RBM". I am aware the outlets won't be grounded.
Just don't want to use the 3 prong cheaters.

Will check the alum wiring further, It's a nice, litlle time capsule of
a house. All electric with 200amp breaker box so that much ahead.
Liza



Liza-

I'm surprised that a 1957 home would have aluminum branch
circuits....my experience (in SoCal) is that aluminum didn't start to
be used until he late 60's / early 70's

My parents home (1959, Orange County CA) has all copper in the branch
cirucits.
My house 1930 same.even the new work done in the 70's

here's a very short article on the issue
http://www.cornerstone-inspection.co...um_wiring.html

IMHO unless you really love this place & are getting a bargain....I'd
think twice about getting into a home with Al wiring unless you're
planning on having the Al/Cu pigtail thing done.

cheers
Bob


Could be tinned copper? were they still assuming that some splices
would be soldered in 1957?

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Aluminum wiring was used in that time frame.


Maybe for the service drop (and 30 amp plus circuits) BUT Al wiring wasn't
used for the individual circuits inside home until the price of Cu went out
of sight in the late 70s.

That was also where the problems came up.

There were all kinds of overheating problems that were essenetially "loose
connectin" type stuff. A drop of just 1 volt with a 10 amp load will
generate enough heat to, in time, make a junction box quite HOT.

On Fri, 5 Jan 2007 13:44:46 -0800, (Liza Rhoades)
wrote:

Looking at a 1957 rancher. Was aluminum wiring common in the 50's.? I
will check it out further myself.

And...Most of the outlets are 2 prong. If I put a GFI at the head of
the curcuit will that protect the downstream outlets so I can replace
with 3 prong?

Thanks for any input. Will return later to check any replies.


IMHO:

You need to verify whether or not you have AL wiring, before
purchasing anything for it. Many device manufacturers do not design
for AL wiring.

As for the age of the house, for me, it's not the construction date,
but was the home around for the AL branch wiring to be put in by a
DIY'er.

Get a qualified electrician to evaluate the wiring system, or check
back with your home inspection report.

tom @ www.FindMeShelter.com