Aluminum Wiring Connectors

[JohnVee]

My house was built in 1970 and is wired with aluminum. The PO (1974-2009) used regular wire nuts and non-AL/CU outlets and switches whenever he replaced or added one. Of course, that matched what was already in the house.

I've been going through and changing outlets and switches to AL/CU-rated versions where I can (not always an option depending on the color/purpose). Been adding CU pigtails where I can't change the device but this usually involves replacing the tiny original boxes with larger old-work boxes to accommodate the bulk of the new wires and special purple wire nuts. There's also a minimum of remaining wire left in every box I've opened.

I've had electricians (not just home store workers) tell me not to bother because the AL is too fragile to mess with and just retighten all connections yearly. Doesn't make sense since I'd be moving it all around yearly. I've also been given $$$ quotes to rewire the house. It appears the only difference on the AL/CU devices is a knurled surface for the wire under the screws.

Here's the question… I've been using the IDEAL purple AL/CU wire nuts.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BVMAZ6/?tag=ihco-20

Now I see there's this. Should I switch to these AlumiConn's?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EDQ1HLS/?tag=ihco-20


Thanks for any advice.
--john

 

[TomH]

I'm certainly not an expert on this but I'm pretty sure AMP (Tyco, TE Connectivity) wrote the book on connecting aluminum wire to copper. We use Copalum splices at work when connecting copper to aluminun. Their parts and tools may be a little expensive for the average homeowner. Here's a quick link but if you search their site you'll probably find more.

http://www.te.com/en/products/appli...ered-hand-tools/copalum-aluminum-program.html

 

[Brentbba]

FIL is a retired electrical engineer. I was in the same boat as you with my old house - built in 1971 with aluminum wire. Ideally you do not want the copper/aluminum wires touching and the only connectors back in the 80's were bulky ones that kept the two wires from touching, but provided connectivity. This was before your first pic above. Those purple wire nuts are filled with noalox, a substance that helps with the connectivity between copper and aluminum and keeps it cooler so as to not spark or overheat and start a fire. I used those extensively when they came out as approved for use. The 2nd pic you show looks like a better alternative that takes you back to the two different wires not touching type of connector and based on the product description, might have some of the noalox compound in there as well. I'm not an electrician, but my FIL knew the codes and was comfortable recommending the noalox wire nuts use when they came out. Looks like the industry has now gone one step better with the AlumiConns.

 

[JohnVee]

Thanks for the responses, Tom and Brent. The AlumiConns seem to be accepted by the CPSC for repair, so I'll probably go with those now as needed and replace the purple nuts as I come across them. Plus, the torque driver for them is pretty cheap by comparison to the cost of paying an electrician to COPALUM everything. Anybody else have thoughts???