As an Electrician, I would not buy a house with Aluminum wiring. The problem is that Al becomes brittle over time and can break easily, this can be combated somewhat by installing copper 'pig tails' on each wire terminating to a device (plug or switch) in the house, to do this you need special wire nuts that have an anti-oxidant inside them, these are expensive (you'll likely need 3 per outlet and 2/3 per switch). Where I live you cannot get house insurance without this being done. Much higher risk comes when you try and do a reno and move or adjust the Al wires, they can easily break inside the PVC jacket and you will never know (it may even keep working for awhile), I'd recommend replacing all the Al wire you run into when doing any reno's. The only acceptable Al wire in a house is to the range, or other large loads, and your main service conductors.
plutonic008 karma
As an Electrician, I would not buy a house with Aluminum wiring. The problem is that Al becomes brittle over time and can break easily, this can be combated somewhat by installing copper 'pig tails' on each wire terminating to a device (plug or switch) in the house, to do this you need special wire nuts that have an anti-oxidant inside them, these are expensive (you'll likely need 3 per outlet and 2/3 per switch). Where I live you cannot get house insurance without this being done. Much higher risk comes when you try and do a reno and move or adjust the Al wires, they can easily break inside the PVC jacket and you will never know (it may even keep working for awhile), I'd recommend replacing all the Al wire you run into when doing any reno's. The only acceptable Al wire in a house is to the range, or other large loads, and your main service conductors.
View HistoryShare Link