Do you use copper SEC or Aluminum when you do a service change?

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electricmanscott

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
jaylectricity said:
It was a joke. 480 asked about new services and iwire jokingly mentioned that we should run our questions by 480. So then I submitted the question to satisfy 480's curiosity.

And now I've explained the joke...oh well. :cool::):grin:
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I got it. It was funny. :)

Aluminum for service changes and aluminum for new services. :D
 
electricmanscott

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
GUNNING said:
I only use Cu. I dont like aluminum's bulk, inefficiency quotient, or having to goop the ends. I like the THHN jacket on Cu for resisting UV and holding up generally in all types of weather and conditions. I find Copper more reliable.
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I haven't seen anything in the last 20 years to validate anything said here.

I'm not saying you haven't but I do think it's really unfounded overall.
 
ceb58

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
At a cost of around $13.00 per ft for Cu SE cable verses $4.00 per ft for Al SE the choice is not hard to make. Can make a difference a bid time.
 
zappy

zappy

Senior Member
Location
CA.
In CA. we have to have the SE conductors in conduit. We can't run SE cable on the outside of the house unprotected. Would it be a code violation to run SE cable in conduit?
 
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
BLACK4TRUCK said:
I still only use copper wire for services.

Using AL just seems like hack work and I already know many will think this is dumb. :D
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Yup, that's dumb. :)

The only copper SE cable I see are the 40+ year old rotted and cracked ones I replace during a service upgrade. Oh, and yes, I replace it with an aluminum cable. I think if you asked for copper SE cable around here you would get a laugh and/or funny look.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I am not afraid of either copper or aluminum. either one works just fine and I will install either one. Overall price, and conditions may determine which one I would choose on a particular install.

This is not just for services but feeders and branch circuits as well. Most branch circuits are usually copper but if a long run and sized maybe #2 or larger it is definately worth considering aluminum.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
zappy said:
In CA. we have to have the SE conductors in conduit. We can't run SE cable on the outside of the house unprotected. Would it be a code violation to run SE cable in conduit?
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once you put the SE in a raceway you may as well have put in individual conductors. probably costs less and if you have a conduit body you will have a hard time installing the cable without damaging it unless you use a larger conduit body than raceway size. Still costs less than cable and conduit.
 
J

John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
We have one city that requires copper service conductors. When connecting to an overhead drop POCO hooks up to their aluminum conductors. Makes no sense to me. Copper to aluminum under a kearney, is it an issue?
 
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