Mixing Conductor Types

[A/A Fuel GTX]

I know for parallel feeders, the wire types must be the same. Does mixing wire types, CU/AL for service entrance conductors and non paralleled feeders violate the code?

 

[winnie]

As long as all conductors are suitable for their individual roles they can be mixed.

So you could have Al conductors for neutral and Cu conductors for phase(s), or Cu for phase A and Al for everything else.

You could have different insulation types as long as everything can handle the temperature/moisture/sunlight conditions of the run.

If you have Al conductors spliced to Cu conductors the splices need to be suitable for both conductor types.

Even in parallel feeders, wire types can be mixed. The requirement is that all conductors paralleled together must have the same characteristics. So phase A could be 4 250kcmil Cu conductors in parallel and phase B could be 4 350kcmil Al conductors in parallel. The phase A conductors are _not_ electrically parallel with the phase B conductors and thus can have different characteristics.

-Jon

 

[Strathead]

As long as all conductors are suitable for their individual roles they can be mixed.

So you could have Al conductors for neutral and Cu conductors for phase(s), or Cu for phase A and Al for everything else.

You could have different insulation types as long as everything can handle the temperature/moisture/sunlight conditions of the run.

If you have Al conductors spliced to Cu conductors the splices need to be suitable for both conductor types.

Even in parallel feeders, wire types can be mixed. The requirement is that all conductors paralleled together must have the same characteristics. So phase A could be 4 250kcmil Cu conductors in parallel and phase B could be 4 350kcmil Al conductors in parallel. The phase A conductors are _not_ electrically parallel with the phase B conductors and thus can have different characteristics.

-Jon

And my marginal OCD says AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[A/A Fuel GTX]

And my marginal OCD says AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I get it. It's just that I have a lot of various conductors in short lengths that I could be using for short runs.