[David40]

I am working on an aluminum remediation job using Alumiconns. In this particular instance the main breaker panel was replaced recently with a new Eton Cuttler-Hammer panel and breakers.
The new breakers are clearly marked as being approved for aluminum wire.
My question is... Does anyone know if the insurance companies or home inspectors are going to require copper pigtails to the breakers even though the manufacturer states they are OK for aluminum wire?

Thanks for any information.

 

[Majewski]

Never heard of it, many breakers are fine for the connection so I'm not sure how or why an insurance agency would care but what do I know!?

Out of curiousity... How many alumicknns/purple nuts have you gone through?

 

[David40]

I only have one bedroom left to do in a 3 bedroom two bath house, and I think I have gone through about 145 Alumicons so far. I have only had to extend 3 boxes to make more room and those were in the kitchen because of the GFCI receptacles being so big. I find that the deep Wiremold extension boxes work perfectly for this and doesn't look too bad.

 

[Majewski]

Man, that's a lot of connectors money wise! How long did this take you? Did you use the cheapo copper only devices? Was a complete rewire bid along with this job?

 

[David40]

It has taken months because the tenants living there are slobs and don't want to move their junk so I can have access. I tried to talk the owner into waiting till their lease was up and the house is empty, but he can't get any insurance till this is done. They let me in for half a day every two or three weeks. If I don't need to do the panel I will have it finished on my next visit.
I quoted them about 8 grand to rewire, whereas this will only cost about 3K to do the Alumiconns.
Don't know what you mean about the cheapo copper devices. With the copper pigtails I am installing the devices don't matter.

 

[Majewski]

Oh I'm sorry, I just mean normal devices vs the al rated devices. I never buy em but there around and quite a bit more per device.

That client sounds crappy, sorry you're dealing with all these trips AND tenants. Glad you're almost done!

 

[HackWork]

I land aluminum on breakers all the time, no issue.

The insurance company should go along with whatever the licensed electrician says, since they essentially put the liability onto you. No one knows what the home inspector is going to say, but who actually listens to them? :thumbup:

You're fine, IMO. Adding copper tails would make a mess out of the panel and add more points of possible issues.

 

[nrp3]

In the end the connection is really the same as the one on the breaker and it's listed for it.

 

[jtopham26]

It sounds like your scope includes the feeder replacement. Discuss it with your project manager

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[MechanicalDVR]

It sounds like your scope includes the feeder replacement. Discuss it with your project manager

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Welcome aboard first of all.

Secondly with aluminum feeders being more popular than copper why would that be in his scope?

 

[SummitElectric1]

Oh I'm sorry, I just mean normal devices vs the al rated devices. I never buy em but there around and quite a bit more per device.

That client sounds crappy, sorry you're dealing with all these trips AND tenants. Glad you're almost done!

The Al/Cu outlets are available. If you want them in TR then they are quite a bit more indeed. The last time I checked (which was about 18 months ago) the supply house quoted me around $4.50-$4.75 each for Al/Cu TR duplex outlets if I remember correctly.

 

[SummitElectric1]

It has taken months because the tenants living there are slobs and don't want to move their junk so I can have access. I tried to talk the owner into waiting till their lease was up and the house is empty, but he can't get any insurance till this is done. They let me in for half a day every two or three weeks. If I don't need to do the panel I will have it finished on my next visit.
I quoted them about 8 grand to rewire, whereas this will only cost about 3K to do the Alumiconns.
Don't know what you mean about the cheapo copper devices. With the copper pigtails I am installing the devices don't matter.

How many total trips have you had to make to work around the restricted access issues? Seems like an awful lot of inconvenience for only 3K.

 

[MechanicalDVR]

How many total trips have you had to make to work around the restricted access issues? Seems like an awful lot of inconvenience for only 3K.

Right along the same lines of my thoughts.

 

[drspec]

The Al/Cu outlets are available. If you want them in TR then they are quite a bit more indeed. The last time I checked (which was about 18 months ago) the supply house quoted me around $4.50-$4.75 each for Al/Cu TR duplex outlets if I remember correctly.

I've never seen Al/cu TR receps and they aren't required to be by code so why would you use them?

 

[Majewski]

The al rated devices are stupid expensive. I re deviced a newer condo high rise and all of the original devices were those, I kept those lil buggers!!!

I commiserate with this poor fellow on only 3k.... I nearly quoted that for a small job I'm doing today!

 

[SummitElectric1]

I've never seen Al/cu TR receps and they aren't required to be by code so why would you use them?

Great question...

A customer had recently purchased a house with aluminum wiring. The previous owner had replaced all of the devices in the house with Decora switches and outlets that were listed for copper only.

Replacing the devices was one of the repair options that was offered when it was discovered that the existing circuits had copper only devices on aluminum wire.

 

[David40]

Regarding the price vs trips... the place is only five minutes from my house and I've been able to get in there for 4 hours every other weekend, starting in July. One more visit and I am done.
Commenting on aluminum wire in general... in the course of doing this job I found three connections that were burned up and ready to start a fire. The worst of the three was the washer circuit. It had burned itself open and the tenant was using an extension cord to run the washer from a different outlet.

 

[Majewski]

I'm glad you found the bad ones before bad injury!

 

[nrp3]

I thought if you replace a receptacle, it needed to be TR and AFCI. Thinking 2014.

 

[Majewski]

I thought if you replace a receptacle, it needed to be TR and AFCI. Thinking 2014.

That's mostly true here!