CanAsia
New member
- Location
- Houston, Texas
Ok here's what we have and I hope someone can help: the townhouse above has the washing machine in the kitchen. We are just finishing up renovating the kitchen, but when we removed the cabinets we noticed a single outlet in a 2 gang box with no cover right beside the water supply and drain for the washing machine under the cabinet. We also discovered that the outlet was being fed by a multi strand 9+ aluminum wire. We hired an electrician and he installed a single gang box on the other side of the stud a few more inches away from the water supply. While I was changing out the outlet to a gfci we discovered that the electrician only used 3 strands of the 9 or 12 strand aluminum wire and twisted it together with the copper pig tail using a purple wire nut from Home Depot. I did not think that was kosher using just three strands, but I think that is all the wire nut would allow.
I have looked in the DIY stores for a better connector but received no joy. The internet states the three approved methods of joining the single strand aluminum to copper but nothing for multi strand I don't believe unless the crimping is approved. Need to get this sorted, but also want it done right this time.
Replacing the aluminum wire with copper is cost prohibitive as the breakers are 30 to 40 yards away at the end of the townhouse row, so we're hoping to find a cheaper fix.
Please throw some solutions our way. Thanks in advance.
I have looked in the DIY stores for a better connector but received no joy. The internet states the three approved methods of joining the single strand aluminum to copper but nothing for multi strand I don't believe unless the crimping is approved. Need to get this sorted, but also want it done right this time.
Replacing the aluminum wire with copper is cost prohibitive as the breakers are 30 to 40 yards away at the end of the townhouse row, so we're hoping to find a cheaper fix.
Please throw some solutions our way. Thanks in advance.
