resdinetial aluminum wiring

[peter d]

I've never seen a house wired with aluminum NM cable, thankfully. AL does not seem to be very common in my area, even though we have quite a bit of housing stock from the time when it was common.

I have worked in a house with copper clad aluminum. Much less nightmarish to work with than pure aluminum, but a very strange animal indeed.

 

[jmellc]

I have no problem with AL, down to about size 6. AL 12 and 10 don't bend well w/o breaking, as must be done in a device box. I've seen lots of trouble with small AL and try to talk HO into replacing it. I don't think 10 & 12 AL are still sold, in fact I've never bought any. I started work in 1976 & no one I knew was using it then. I knew 1 guy that used #8 AL for dryers and had good luck.

 

[ishium 80439]

Back to the OP's point and get away from particular methods, I would say it depends on the situation. Generally I go w/ the pigtail method. I think the flipside of the liabililty issue is if you only touch one when you were well aware of the inherent problems with this wiring wouldn't you be on the hook for not addressing the whole problem?

 

[satcom]

We just looked at a job where a maint electrician, spent a day pig tailing a new panel, I guess he had no clue the breakers were Cu/Al rated.