Aluminum for new circuits.

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mesllc

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Is anyone out there using aluminum for circuits 30 amps and over due to the ridiculous cost of copper?
 
I have pretty much always used AL for 40A and up circuits. Exception would be where equipment terminals are marked "CU conductors only". A lot of HVAC units are so marked. I then use copper from disco to unit.
 
I mostly always did for 100 amp and up, maybe depending on circuit length or other factors on occasion might still run copper. 60 amp and up for underground feeders unless short length was almost always aluminum.
 
I've never in my life run aluminum for a branch circuit, but just last week bought #6 & #8 along with 4/0 for subpanel feed.
 

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I really don't understand why people don't use aluminum more often regardless of the current price of copper. It's almost always going to be cheaper in larger sizes to use aluminum and is a perfectly acceptable conductor.
 
kwired said:
I think there is talk of maybe seeing copper clad aluminum but probably won't ever see straight aluminum in those small sizes again.
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There were a lot of PIs related to copper-clad aluminum for the 2023 code including some for 10 amp branch circuits using 14 AWG copper-clad aluminum.

As far as not seeing aluminum in 10 and 12AWG, I think you are correct, but really don't understand why.

There was a short period of time around 1974 when new alloy single conductor aluminum was available in 10 and 12 AWG. I worked on an apartment complex where we used it. It was cost effective then, and believe it would be now.

I moved on to running the service truck a couple of years after we had finished that project, and we had no more service calls for the buildings wired with aluminum than we did with others built in the same time frame with copper.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
There were a lot of PIs related to copper-clad aluminum for the 2023 code including some for 10 amp branch circuits using 14 AWG copper-clad aluminum.

As far as not seeing aluminum in 10 and 12AWG, I think you are correct, but really don't understand why.

There was a short period of time around 1974 when new alloy single conductor aluminum was available in 10 and 12 AWG. I worked on an apartment complex where we used it. It was cost effective then, and believe it would be now.

I moved on to running the service truck a couple of years after we had finished that project, and we had no more service calls for the buildings wired with aluminum than we did with others built in the same time frame with copper.
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If you could keep the DIY's and handymen from handling it, maybe it would come back. But industry is more interested in making money off GFCI's and AFCI's right now.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
As far as not seeing aluminum in 10 and 12AWG, I think you are correct, but really don't understand why.

There was a short period of time around 1974 when new alloy single conductor aluminum was available in 10 and 12 AWG. I worked on an apartment complex where we used it. It was cost effective then, and believe it would be now.
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Are you unaware of the myriad problems due to the softness and expansion differences between small aluminum wire and screw terminals on circuits with regular current cycling? :oops:
 
LarryFine said:
Are you unaware of the myriad problems due to the softness and expansion differences between small aluminum wire and screw terminals on circuits with regular current cycling? :oops:
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With terminals on devices that are Al/Cu rated it is not an issue. The problem was not with the wire or the devices but with hooking wire to devices unsuited to AL wire.
 
LarryFine said:
Are you unaware of the myriad problems due to the softness and expansion differences between small aluminum wire and screw terminals on circuits with regular current cycling? :oops:
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That was the issue with the old aluminum and the old wiring devices. Both were changed to eliminate those problems.

It is not an issue with the new alloy aluminum and the CO/ARL devices. Like I said, I did the service calls for that project and other projects done in copper and there were no more issues with the aluminum project and the copper projects.

As far as I know, the new alloy aluminum was never used in NM cable, and was only on the market for a couple of years as single conductors. It did not sell well, because of the issues with the old aluminum NM, and few understood the difference that change in the aluminum alloy and the construction of the wiring devices makes for small conductor aluminum applications. I would have no issues installing it today, if it was on the market.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
It did not sell well, because of the issues with the old aluminum NM, and few understood the difference that change in the aluminum alloy and the construction of the wiring devices makes for small conductor aluminum applications.
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Bring back the Corvair! :giggle:
 
petersonra said:
With terminals on devices that are Al/Cu rated it is not an issue. The problem was not with the wire or the devices but with hooking wire to devices unsuited to AL wire.
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I kind of guessing AL/CU devices had less troubles but still had more troubles than copper conductors in general had.
 
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