Aluminum to copper pigtails

[joerivera79]

I am pigtailing old aluminum conductors to new copper conductors, is it necessary to pigtail the ground also? Even though it is not conducting any heat.

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[gaelectric]

I would. The receptacle is typically rated for CU connections only. The existing box size can be a real pain to make it all fit at times. The old aluminum install guys loved using the smallest boxes possible.

 

[al hildenbrand]

Your answer is determined by the terminal that you want to land the conductor on. Is the terminal rated for an aluminum ground wire? If not, then, yes, you need a pigtail of copper on the aluminum ground (Equipment Grounding Conductor).

 

[electricalist]

I have been red tagged for not using wire nuts with no lox.

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[mjf]

I have been red tagged for not using wire nuts with no lox.

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Wire nuts WITH no lox are not code compliant (although maybe they should be). The connector/terminal/lug/etc must be listed for use with al/cu.

We can't just make our own by adding an anti-oxidant.

 

[electricalist]

I bought them. They were purple and about 1.00 ea. The AHJ said we had to use them.

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[jumper]

I bought them. They were purple and about 1.00 ea. The AHJ said we had to use them.

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You can use those or there are other listed prducts for AL to CU connections such as these.

 

[user 100]

I bought them. They were purple and about 1.00 ea. The AHJ said we had to use them.

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There was a fix at one time that involved the original scotchlok wire nuts and no lox that when done correctly seemed to be trouble free. If I *recall* correctly, it seemed that the steel/lead coated spring in that particular connector did a better job w/ al-cu. It was claimed that the soft outer jacket of that connector was also a benefit in the advent of a al/cu joint failing-the jacket would tend to melt instead of cracking under heat stress like the jackets of harder wire nuts.

As far the purples are concerned, there seems to be mixed results about their effectiveness. Some swear by them and others claim that they are too failure prone. Of course, this can be a matter of interpretation-it can be wondered if the failures were the result of improper application.

 

[zcanyonboltz]

My instructor at the apprenticeship was just talking about this... they make devices that are rated to be connected to aluminum wire.