Parallel conductors, al/cu

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electricalist said:
Can al and copper conductors be used. For example. 1 hot copper and the second hot aluminum?


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Take a close look at 310.10(H), especially 310.10(H)(2).

It is not clear to me what you are actually asking so I do not have an answer for you.

If you are asking if you can make one phase paralleled Al and the other paralleled Cu, the answer is different than if you want to use an Al and Cu conductor in parallel on the same phase.
 
My buddy is studying for his masters and said he couldnt find where is says u cant have a phase paralleled 1 al and 1 al

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electricalist said:
My buddy is studying for his masters and said he couldnt find where is says u cant have a phase paralleled 1 al and 1 al

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If both conductors of A phase are AL why would there be a problem?

Roger
 
electricalist said:
My buddy is studying for his masters and said he couldnt find where is says u cant have a phase paralleled 1 al and 1 al

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You can use a completely different configuration for all three phases, as long as your configuration OF EACH PHASE is internally identical.

Why you would want to do that, I do not know. It would be difficult in a practical sense of building a phase diverse feeder, and difficult to convince the inspector that it meets the NEC. Plus your voltage drop calculations are going to be confusing as hell.
 
electricalist said:
Can 1 be al and 1 cu

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Petersonra's post has the code section, each phase has to be of the same characteristics but the different phases do not, for example, Phase A can be made up of AL XHHW and B could be CU THWN-2

Roger
 
Thanks actiondave. I misunderstood the question my buddy and i were debating. You answer what he was asking.

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electricalist said:
Thanks for all the replies.
Is there a instance where a being co and b being al would be used?

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It is not prohibited so it is strictly a design decision.

For instance, you might have some copper wire left over from an old job that you want to use up so you run one phase in copper and the rest in AL.

Or maybe you run one phase in copper because it lets you use a smaller conduit.
 
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