AlumiConn connectors

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masterinbama

Senior Member
Has anyone used this product yet?

http://www.alcopstore.com/order/

I have a customer who is an EE who has done all the leg work on this product and he is confident as to it's safety and reliability.
I will be doing his entire house soon and plan on keeping strict documentation as to how long and how easy they are to use.

Any tips or cautions from those experienced would be appreciated.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
IMO.

A residential electrical system that has AL house wiring is probably near the end of its service life anyway.

Maybe a better answer is to just replace it entirely. Not the cheapest answer but what have you gained by installing these things other than some peace of mind. Presumably what is there has not started a fire to date and it probably never will. You might even make it worse by messing around inside the boxes.
 
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renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
I've used them, and without problems ... at least, no problems with the wiring connections. Yes, there's a 'but' coming ....

When you see aluminum wiring, making the connections is only part of the challenge.

Challenge #1 is pulling everything out of the box. This can be tough since the ground is usually undersize, crimped where it enters the box, and breaks off. Doom on you.

Challenge #2 is that while you can get aluminum-rated receptacles andswitches, there are not aluminum rated GFC devices.

Challenge #3 is that those connectors take up more space than a wire nut, so it's possible that not everything will fit in the box.
 

masterinbama

Senior Member
I've used them, and without problems ... at least, no problems with the wiring connections. Yes, there's a 'but' coming ....

When you see aluminum wiring, making the connections is only part of the challenge.

Challenge #1 is pulling everything out of the box. This can be tough since the ground is usually undersize, crimped where it enters the box, and breaks off. Doom on you.

No different than old overheated copper.

Challenge #2 is that while you can get aluminum-rated receptacles and switches, there are not aluminum rated GFC devices.

Why do I need AL rated devices? The fitting is for pig tailing copper to the premise wiring.

Challenge #3 is that those connectors take up more space than a wire nut, so it's possible that not everything will fit in the box.

These are no bigger than a red B-Cap IMO.
 

satcom

Senior Member
Has anyone used this product yet?

http://www.alcopstore.com/order/

I have a customer who is an EE who has done all the leg work on this product and he is confident as to it's safety and reliability.
I will be doing his entire house soon and plan on keeping strict documentation as to how long and how easy they are to use.

Any tips or cautions from those experienced would be appreciated.

The connectors are really great, but the how easy they are to use, oh boy, sure hope you do not have high blood pressure and you do have plenty of time on your hands, the connectors would be great if you had to connect them in an open area, but if you think you are going to fit them in the existing outlet boxes, and fit the connectors in the box, you must be close buddies with the Easter Bunny and Santa, If your intent it to loose your shirt on the job, then you should meet that goal.

Your customer did the easy work, now he wants you to do the impossible, must of got a price from someone that tried the replacement trick, and they gave him a price, sure hope you priced this job up there, and some advice is don't time and material the job, you will have nothing but problems when finds out how long the job is taking and put you on the spot, be careful.
 
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masterinbama

Senior Member
This will be a cost plus deal the same as he does for me when he does engineered drawings. He's a great guy to work around and doesn't get excited.

After our bout with no power for a week last year he designed a generator setup for his home/office. I changed a lot of things he had gold plated and saved him about 10G
 
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