Besides Babalu, sorry ? COPALUM

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Esthy

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Mobile home with aluminum wiring had a fire in the living room. I found that some outlets were pigtailed with regular wire nuts to copper, see photos. I talked with inspector and he?s approving the pig tailing, not need for rewiring with copper. Besides the expensive Copalum, what type of connectors you strongly recommend? ? AlumiConn Connector? ? ?Purple? twist connectors? ? Marrettes?
 
Aluimiconn is a reasonable way to go. No special tools other than torque driver.

Many Insurance companies approve their use. ( so it is said)
 
How does everyone feel about taking on the liability of working on these antiquated aluminum wiring systems?

These days it just doesn't seem worth the risk to make a few hundred dollars profit, patching into something that is failure prone.
 
cpinetree said:
How does everyone feel about taking on the liability of working on these antiquated aluminum wiring systems?

These days it just doesn't seem worth the risk to make a few hundred dollars profit, patching into something that is failure prone.
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K8MHZ said:
Excellent thought to consider, since old AL has a worse reputation than K&T ever did.
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Interesting point
 
You are right, but in my case, because of the low income situation in those mobile homes we have very little money for repairs and even inspectors encourage to fix those (I really don't know why). So, I will go with Alumiconn ... What about the so called Marrettes? And of course Thank!
 
Esthy said:
You are right, but in my case, because of the low income situation in those mobile homes we have very little money for repairs and even inspectors encourage to fix those (I really don't know why). So, I will go with Alumiconn ... What about the so called Marrettes? And of course Thank!
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Marretts are just another brand name for wire nuts. Supposed to be the inventor of them.
 
Ok, I am sold, I will dance the Babalu with AlumiConn and invite Marrette to Canukistani.

Why Copalum is so expensive? They are pricing themselves out of the market. Anyway, in the Copalum system, copper and aluminum wires are touching (are they?), so it is almost the same as the purple wire nut. Copalum also use the "same torque" for both materials (are they?)
 
Esthy said:
. . . in the Copalum system, copper and aluminum wires are touching (are they?), so it is almost the same as the purple wire nut. Copalum also use the "same torque" for both materials (are they?)
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The contact between copper and aluminum in a Copalum connector is not where the electrical connection happens. The Copalum barrel has lots of little holes in it. When pressed onto the conductors, especially the aluminum, the conductor metal extrudes into the little holes providing a gas free metal to metal connection (the sides of the extrusion to the sides of the hole) that will last very well over time. Copalum was the first connector developed to handle the problem that was approved by the CPSC after the Al/Cu rating of the common wirenut was regulated out of existence in the mid Eighties. It has required a factory training to get approval to purchase the splices and rent the compression tool. All of that goes to the increased cost. Copalum has always been expensive.
 
Years ago the standard Buchanan Wirenuts were listed for copper to aluminum. We used them all the time but then Buchanan lost their listing. Although I cannot be sure that there was never an issue with them, I have not seen any trouble out of it. I did an entire house with them.

My bet is in most cases it wouldn't be an issue especially if you throw in some Noalox in the wirenut- although it would not be approved. I used the purples a bunch also and have not had an issue with them either. The alumicon work great but they are a bit bulky for my taste especially when you have 3 or 4 conductors.

They probably don't make cu/al TR devices
 
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