Aluminum Wiring Use...

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I don't think the NEC ever did address using aluminum for AC/Furnaces/Ranges as anything special.

Aluminum is a conductor and it is in the Code as such with different types of insulations.
 
Some appliances are marked "use copper conductors only". Without that limitation, AL is fine.
 
infinity said:
Some appliances are marked "use copper conductors only". Without that limitation, AL is fine.
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I've seen plenty of that, but it has me wondering if you transition the alum to copper conductors before connection to the appliance whip, would you meet the manufactures requirements now? Or do they mean copper all the way back to the breaker? I can't see them requiring this for other than the connection point of the appliance whip.
 
macmikeman said:
I've seen plenty of that, but it has me wondering if you transition the alum to copper conductors before connection to the appliance whip, would you meet the manufactures requirements now? Or do they mean copper all the way back to the breaker? I can't see them requiring this for other than the connection point of the appliance whip.
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I agree. The copper reference is for the connection to the appliance. It doesn't mean that there can't be aluminum anywhere in the circuit.
 
Aluminum Wire

Aluminum Wire

The first time that I hooked up a big industrial machine I use 4/0 aluminum SER cable to bring 240 volts corner grounded down from a busway that was in an attic. This machine was a 60 KW plastics machine that ran 100% duty cycle on half the heaters and 90% duty cycle on the other half of the heater when in full production. The 4/0 aluminum ran to a 75 KVA transformer that stepped up to 480 volts and then ran #2 aluminum SER cable from there to the machine.

This machine ran 24/7 for 6 months except for bathroom and lunch breaks, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 2 times that the copper wiring in this machine broke curing its first 2 months of life.

My wiring in aluminum ran cooler than Code said that it should have given the load and the ambient temperature. This is because I did as Dr. Jesse Aronstein suggested and used #220 silicon carbide paper to clean each individual strand, hit each strand with Ilsco Deox, then put all of the strands back together.

This was after Ilsco Deox passed the 3 year salt spray test on the starter motor of my car.

Thanks to catalytic converters I have noticed that copper that is out os doors corrodes and burns up just as fast as aluminum all other things being equal. There is a reason why there are antioxidant compounds for copper wire and it isn't just chemical plants, foundries, and salt mines.

Mike Cole mc5w at earthlink dot net
 
mc5w said:
My wiring in aluminum ran cooler than Code said that it should have given the load and the ambient temperature. This is because I did as Dr. Jesse Aronstein suggested and used #220 silicon carbide paper to clean each individual strand, hit each strand with Ilsco Deox, then put all of the strands back together.
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Mike IMO this is total and utter nonsense.

It is unnecessary and the may even be damaging to the conductors.

I recommend to all that if you use any Deox that you do so only by following the directions that come with it.
 
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