I heard a guy at the supply house say something about aluminum wire that really got me thinking

Honestly, he was telling a new apprentice that aluminum branch wiring from the 70s is a total fire trap and should always be ripped out. I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I've seen plenty of those old connections that are still fine if they were done right with the right paste and torque. It's not the wire, it's the work. I had a house in Cedar Rapids last year where the aluminum was perfect because the original electrician knew his stuff. Does anyone else feel like we're too quick to condemn it all?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry_murray6d ago

My uncle's house in Toledo has had the same aluminum branch circuits since 1974. The inspector nearly had a stroke when he saw it during the sale. We pulled a few devices, and the connections were cleaner than some copper jobs I see today. So we're just going to burn the whole house down now because a guy at a supply house heard a story? Maybe we should just ban screwdrivers and let the robots do it.

nelson.wren5d ago

It's like how people hear one story about a car model having issues and suddenly every single one is a death trap. Real world experience gets tossed out for a scary headline. When did we stop trusting our own eyes?

tessaperry5d ago

Remember my buddy's place? His aluminum circuits were fine until some handyman swapped a device without the right goop and nearly cooked the wall.