Aluminum Wiring

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jt700

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I have a customer that wants to replace some light fixtures in their home. When I went to look at the job I discovered that the single family residence was wired in aluminum romex. As a result, I have been doing a little research on the proper way to make splices with aluminum. I found a product called Alumiconn. I was curious if anyone would recommend using Alumiconn products?

Thanks
 
AlumiConn connectors are very good provided you can get them in the box. By the time you pigtail to copper x 3 or more, those old boxes are frequently too full, so you may need to replace the box(es) as well. They are MUCH better than those purple wirenuts by Ideal, or trying to use No-Alox with regular wirenuts (a no-no).
 
I accepted a job once to pigtail all the wire in the house with Alumiconns. The Alumiconns worked perfectly, but as was stated above, getting everything back in the boxes was a nightmare. And that wasn't the worst part. I found so many code violations, and the way the contract was written, I had to fix them all. Attic full of joints with no boxes; fixtures screwed to the ceiling with no box; zip-cord wiring.

I have never taken one of those jobs since and probably never will. I carry a few Alumiconns on the truck just in case, but that's it.
 
My thoughts about aluminum branch-circuit terminations:

It took years of current cycling on and off for expansion/contraction to flatten the wires under the screw heads. Now that the once-round wires are oval, tighten the screws and the connections are better than original due to increased contact area, and should last longer.
 
jt700 said:
I have a customer that wants to replace some light fixtures in their home. When I went to look at the job I discovered that the single family residence was wired in aluminum romex. As a result, I have been doing a little research on the proper way to make splices with aluminum. I found a product called Alumiconn. I was curious if anyone would recommend using Alumiconn products?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Alumiconns have turned out to be a little bit of a godsend when it comes to reliability and cheaply making or replacing AL/CU splices for AL NM.
They are much cheaper/less of a headache than either rewire or the copalum scheme.

As said above the main drawback is box size not playing along and JFletcher is right....its not gonna take much to overfill one of the old bmc sectionals.
 
JFletcher said:
... They are MUCH better than those purple wirenuts by Ideal ...
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I looked up the purple wirenuts (https://idealind.com/content/pdfs/sell-sheets/p-5262-twister-alcu-ss_hires.pdf) and noticed they're made in only one size, there's a fairly narrow range of approved wire size combinations, they're not suitable for reuse and they're listed only for aluminum-to-copper connections, not aluminum-to-aluminum. Do you know if they're reasonably reliable when used within those limitations, or if the problems occur when they're violated?


LarryFine said:
... It took years of current cycling on and off for expansion/contraction to flatten the wires under the screw heads. ...
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A portable space heater might cycle on & off a dozen of times per hour. You never know how a receptacle's going to be used.
 
user 100 said:
Alumiconns have turned out to be a little bit of a godsend when it comes to reliability and cheaply making or replacing AL/CU splices for AL NM.
They are much cheaper/less of a headache than either rewire or the copalum scheme.

As said above the main drawback is box size not playing along and JFletcher is right....its not gonna take much to overfill one of the old bmc sectionals.
Click to expand...

and you cannot mash the wires back because Al work hardens very quickly, gets brittle and breaks. If the box fill is marginal, and it will be with more than 1 or 2 2 wire cables (and your Alumiconns), just cut it out and replace rather than risk snapping a conductor and leaving yourself a 1" stub of wire to work with. Those old boxes are like 14-16in3, hopefully not one with the bracket that attaches to the front of the stud; they're a bear to cut thru with a sawzall.

drcampbell said:
I looked up the purple wirenuts (https://idealind.com/content/pdfs/sell-sheets/p-5262-twister-alcu-ss_hires.pdf) and noticed they're made in only one size, there's a fairly narrow range of approved wire size combinations, they're not suitable for reuse and they're listed only for aluminum-to-copper connections, not aluminum-to-aluminum. Do you know if they're reasonably reliable when used within those limitations, or if the problems occur when they're violated?
Click to expand...

The problems occur with using regular wirenuts on an Al/Cu connection. The purple Twisters as you mention are only one size: too big to fit into an existing box.

I know the AlumiConns with their terminal block design have no limitation of what wire can be used in it. You could use 3 Al, 3 Cu, 2Cu/1Al, or 2Al/1Cu. I dont think they come any bigger than 3 port tho. In something like a 6 gang switchbox, I'd use 2 ports, tailing one Cu wire to one Al, then use your usual method on the copper tails.
 
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I have another use for Alumicons. They're great for adding electrical accessories to vehicles. On my motorcycle, I ran a pair of #10s from my battery (with a fusible link in the + wire) to a pair of Alumicons in the headlight shell. I used the other ports for the headlight and air-horn relays and corresponding grounds, so the original wires now carry only relay current, as well as the after-market cruise control and stereo amplifier. The easily-re-openable purple plastic self-insulating cover is a plus that eliminates having to insulate them myself.

JFletcher said:
. . . hopefully not one with the bracket that attaches to the front of the stud; they're a bear to cut thru with a sawzall.
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Yes, they are certainly blade eaters! :rant: I find the Milwaukee blades called The Torch to be tough enough to survive cutting through the brackets.
 
You could try this company :

http://www.alwirerepair.com/photo-gallery/copalum-crimp-method

I believe they own the patent to the crimper which you have to rent from them and buy the crimps as well. Seems to take up a lot less room in the JB than the Alumicon connectors. Not sure what the rental fee is but I would think you would have to do a lot of these repairs in order to justify the rental. Just my opinion.
 
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