Vent: A whole week of nothing but aluminum wiring calls

Got flagged down for five separate jobs in the same neighborhood, all built in the early 70s. Every single one had aluminum branch circuits that were overheating at the outlets. One kitchen outlet in a house on Maple Street was so hot it had started to melt the plastic faceplate. Spent the entire week just doing pig-tailing with Al/Cu connectors and torqueing everything to spec. Has anyone else had a run like this where one specific, old problem just pops up everywhere at once?

3 comments

3 Comments

jake74722h ago

You mentioned torquing everything to spec, but is that really the fix? I've seen those pigtails fail after a few years when the connection loosens up. Maybe we're just putting a band-aid on a bigger problem that needs a full rewire.

stella2219h ago

Yeah, the pigtails failing after a few years is exactly what happened to me. I torqued to spec and still had a connection get loose and overheat. My fix was to replace the old pigtail with a new one that had a better clamp design, and I added a small dab of antioxidant grease. It's been solid for five years now. Sometimes the old parts are just worn out and need a proper upgrade, not just a retighten.

stella_scott9616h ago

Exactly, torquing to spec is just step one. Like stella22 said, sometimes the old part itself is the weak link and needs a full swap, not just a tweak. A full rewire might be overkill, but upgrading the pigtail design seems like the smart move.