I'm closing on a home in Sun City soon. I just found out the house has aluminum wiring. Everyone is scaring me, saying no homeowners insurance company will insure a house with aluminum wiring and I will probably have to rewire. Anyone have any knowledge of this issue? (By the way... not a deal breaker. Very excited about this house and looking forward to joining your community!)
Hey LilC welcome. This is one of those topics people get crazed over. For my part, it's just a reality that at some point you may want to deal with. Lots of Sun City homes have done just fine without changing the aluminum wiring. I was just having this discussion a couple of weeks back with a friend who buys and sells Sun City homes and she said it is no big deal. That is odd because any number of folks in the business will tell you to change it (usually they are in the business of doing those changes). My wife on the other hand gets more nervous over these kinds of issues. Apparently you can pigtail the aluminum to copper clad wire to the outlets and take some of the heat off the boxes. She is of the mind it is something you should at least have an electrician look at so you have an idea what you may want to do down the road and what it will cost you. It is never a bad idea to at least understand what you are looking at as you move forward. Good luck.
It’s time to address the aluminum in the room. If you own a home with aluminum wiring you’ve probably wondered if it needs to be replaced. The short answer is no, but this wiring system does present hazards that homeowners can’t ignore. Here’s the issue, aluminum is soft, brittle and prone to oxidation – all characteristics that cause electrical fires. According to several consumer product safety commissions, aluminum-wired homes are 55 times more likely to reach fire conditions than homes wired with copper. We know that most problems with aluminum stem from the termination points.” A termination point is where the electrical wire meets the panel or the device. Aluminum oxidizes at termination points faster than traditional copper wiring, resulting in electrical arcing and overheating. This means every plug, switch and junction box becomes hazardous. Why do the termination points overheat? 1. Certain outlets and switches aren’t compatible with aluminum wiring but may have been installed anyway by do-it-yourselfers or unqualified contractors. 2. If the connection wasn’t properly made at the device, or if the receptacle was back-stabbed – the wire pushed into the back of the device, this also presents an issue. Aluminum performs better and safer with screw-type connections – when the electrical wire is wrapped around a screw and held in place by the head of the screw rather than being pushed in through the back. 3. If your home is mixed with aluminum and copper, a common scenario says Flanagan, this combination can be very unsafe. Cooper and aluminum expand and contract at different rates. While the two can work together, “they require special connectors,” The most common method used for treating aluminum wiring is by bridging new copper pigtail wires between the existing aluminum wire with the electrical devices. The pigtail connection is made by attaching a small piece of copper wire – pigtail- to the device and then joining the copper wire to the existing aluminum wire. Is an inexpensive fix, and can make you sleep better at night. You do not have to rewire the house, and yes, you can still gt your homeowners insurance.
Thank you for your wonderful replies! Learned a lot. Had inspection done today. Turns out the house has aluminum wiring but has been properly "pigtailed". Inspection went very well. Thanks again!
Glad it passed. Good to know that some Sun City Homes have aluminum wiring... something to keep in mind when it is our time to buy. Aluminum seemed like the right thing to do from mid 60s to early 70s because the cost of copper had skyrocketed, but it was a poor industry choice. There are two ways to address aluminum wiring that I am aware of; 1. As was mentioned, the pigtail with copper wire to the switch/plug is most common fix... and use purple wire nuts BTW. 2. Change all switches and plugs to CO-ALR versions, this option can get a bit pricey, but may be a good choice if the plugs have never been updated since built. I would probably choose to update the plugs and switches unless pigtailing had already been done. Just my 2 cents worth.
Yes, BruceW, pigtailing is the most common and "cheaper" fix. The only thing I have to do is have the pigtailing certified by an electrician to make the lender happy. Other than that, I'm good to go. I've been told by many people that Sun City homeowners take really good care of their homes, so inspections tend to go well. It also helps that these homes were well built! Solid.
If you want to speak to a licensed electrician (maybe in in AZ), see if you can corner RCSC Board Director Dan Schroeder. He was union licensed contractor in Iowa. He portrays himself as an expert in a lot of areas.
