lily70•26d ago

A talk with my dad, a retired lineman, about aluminum wiring

I was helping my dad clean his garage last weekend and found a coil of old aluminum wire from the 70s. He looked at it and said, 'You know, we used to put that stuff in houses like it was the future. But I've seen too many melted outlets to trust it now.' He told me about a call he got in 1985 where a whole kitchen circuit failed because the connections got loose and hot. It hit different because he wasn't just reading a code book, he was there when they figured out the problems. He said the big thing is using the right paste and torque on the terminals, but even then, he'd rather see a full rewire with copper. Made me double-check my own methods on the older homes I work on. Has anyone else had a job where old aluminum wiring caused a real headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthew16626d ago

That old stuff needs the right paste and a torque wrench, no shortcuts.

the_spencer26d ago

My buddy tried to skip the paste on an old water heater fitting. Whole thing seized up solid, had to cut the pipe. Cost him an extra half-day and a new valve.

alex_wilson7926d ago

Tell that to my stripped threads from last week.