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(08-02-2021, 08:07 AM)Cooler Wrote: An anecdotal story.
My electrician said he went to work on a house that was built in the 1970s. All the outlets had copper wire. But when he delved further into the wiring he found that only the final 6" of the wire was copper. The copper was spliced onto the aluminum wiring. The house inspector missed that.
House inspectors are generalists. I would hire an electrician to examine the wiring if you find it suspect. A good electrician will see problems that a house inspector might not. You would have to pay by the hour for this work.
I don't know if the electrician will be able to see into the walls any better than the inspector, but I would call that "due diligence".
My daughter was interested in a house in Ft. Worth. The inspector found that it was equipped with aluminum wiring. That set off all sorts of alarms and I started researching the subject. Turns out aluminum wiring is okay if it is connected using an approved connector to copper wiring which is connected to the electrical fixture (outlet, switch, ceiling fan, light fixture, etc.). The connection between the aluminum and copper must be made with an approved connector.
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Our house (built 1993) has Al run to the electric range. I talked to a friend of my dad who is an EE at a factory...so not residential electrician. He said "Aluminum! I didn't know they still used that in anything besides service."
The inspector noted that the breaker is too big for the wire (maybe a 50 amp breaker on a 6 gauge?) Fortunately given the demands of the stove, I was able to switch to a 40 amp breaker and all is well since it is a straight run for a dedicated appliance application.
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(08-03-2021, 09:56 PM)JosephP Wrote: Our house (built 1993) has Al run to the electric range. I talked to a friend of my dad who is an EE at a factory...so not residential electrician. He said "Aluminum! I didn't know they still used that in anything besides service."
The inspector noted that the breaker is too big for the wire (maybe a 50 amp breaker on a 6 gauge?) Fortunately given the demands of the stove, I was able to switch to a 40 amp breaker and all is well since it is a straight run for a dedicated appliance application.
The inspector looked at the lowest rated insulation rating for #6 AL. The most common insulation for the wire is rated at 75c , which has a NEC rating of 50 amps for #6 AL. Most houses in that era had aluminum wire to the larger circuits, stoves and electric furnaces were common along with the services entrances. If you have a problem with the breaker tripping put the 50 back in. Look up what the stove installation manual says. Roly
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(08-04-2021, 07:17 AM)Roly Wrote: The inspector looked at the lowest rated insulation rating for #6 AL. The most common insulation for the wire is rated at 75c , which has a NEC rating of 50 amps for #6 AL. Most houses in that era had aluminum wire to the larger circuits, stoves and electric furnaces were common along with the services entrances. If you have a problem with the breaker tripping put the 50 back in. Look up what the stove installation manual says. Roly
stove said 40 amp (we brought the stove with us...actually swapped out the one we had in our home with the one that was in this house before we listed our old home). We've been here since 2003 - never had a problem.
