[Shop-talk] Aluminum and copper wiring
Jim Stone
1789alpine at gmail.com
Tue Apr 24 20:21:21 MDT 2018
Thanks guys. I agree completely about the need to re-wire the house, but I also know they will never do it. So, to at least make the garage outlet safer, I replaced the standard outlet with a CO/ALR outlet to (more) safely connect the new copper circuit to the original aluminum circuit and used one of the purple connectors to wire the grounds together. I also suggested that they put in more smoke detectors, but doubt they will take me up on that either. You can lead a horse - or sister in law - to water…
Thanks again for the advice. At least I know my work was done as well as possible under the circumstances.
Jim
> On Apr 24, 2018, at 9:14 AM, Al Fuller <al at bighealey.org> wrote:
>
> Jim - I don’t know what will solve the CU to AL issue, but something you said did strike me: If it were my sister, I would not under any circumstances leave outdoor wiring without a ground! In fact, I would likely be looking at whether the circuit has a GFI...
>
> Just sayin!
>
> Al Fuller
> al at bighealey dot org
> '65 BJ-8
> '85 Rx-7
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shop-talk [mailto:shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Jim Stone
> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 1:34 PM
> To: Shop Talk <shop-talk at Autox.Team.Net>
> Subject: [Shop-talk] Aluminum and copper wiring
>
> Hi guys. I am currently visiting my sister-in-law and offered to install a light switch for her; she has dusk-to-dawn outdoor lights that were installed by a handyman and wired without a switch. She’d like to be able to turn them off, which is normally a pretty simple job. However, her house was built in the early 70’s and has mostly aluminum wiring. I just opened up the box where the handyman spliced in the circuit for the lights and he used a standard outlet made for copper wiring, not a CO/ALR rated one. Aluminum going in; copper coming out. No sign of arcing, fortunately, but I will do it right. The current outlet has a copper ground wire and an aluminum one connected together to the ground screw.
>
> I know using a CO/ALR outlet allows me to connect the (copper) light circuit to the original (aluminum) circuit, but I am not sure about how to do the ground wires. I assume it is less critical with a ground wire than a hot one, but still…. I suppose I could simply not ground the lights or the new switch, but I am wondering if there is a better solution.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
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