dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
4462

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

UHF

MVM

[Electrical] Aluminum wiring

Click for full size
Click for full size
I stole these pics from a friend on Facebook. She was nuking some food when she heard a loud pop, and saw smoke from the outlet the microwave was plugged into. The apartment complex maintenance guy replaced the outlet, and this is what it looked like.

Is this a case of Aluminum wiring make poor contact, or is something more going on here? My first thought was loose terminal before I noticed it was aluminum.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

You can't use aluminum wire with GFCI receptacles (if you can find an ALR GFCI receptacle, you're a better man than I). The receptacles terminals are only rated for copper. There should be a pig-tail of Al-Cu before the receptacle with these:
»www.kinginnovation.com/p ··· SWlc7bPE

~or~

They could install a GFCI breaker and install an ALR receptacle.

My guess is the "maintenance man" just threw another improper GFCI in there and went back to unclogging toilets and changing air filters.

Lurch77
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
Green Bay, WI

Lurch77

Premium Member

said by nunya:

You can't use aluminum wire with GFCI receptacles.....

I think that maintenance man just proved you wrong.
nyrrule27
join:2007-12-06
Howell, NJ

nyrrule27

Member

He prob meant you shouldn't , not you can't.

Lurch77
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
Green Bay, WI

Lurch77

Premium Member

Yes. It was said in jest.
wth
Premium Member
join:2002-02-20
Iowa City,IA

wth to UHF

Premium Member

to UHF
I'd say that maint man has a lot of work to check/switch out all of the GFCI outlets before the apartment complex burns down.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO

nunya

MVM

I'm sure the owner probably has it well insured. Hopefully the OP's friend has renter's insurance. It's usually pretty affordable.

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6 to nunya

Premium Member

to nunya
said by nunya:

My guess is the "maintenance man" just threw another improper GFCI in there and went back to unclogging toilets and changing air filters drinking coffee and chasing the hawt tenants.

FIFY

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

8 recommendations

nunya

MVM


Please always remember and never forget...

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

4 edits

Anonymous_ to nunya

Premium Member

to nunya
said by nunya:

I'm sure the owner probably has it well insured. Hopefully the OP's friend has renter's insurance. It's usually pretty affordable.

better hope they cover Aluminum wiring LOL

most insurances have a clause that will decline the claim... more then likely it has a higher premium.

OP should notify the owner directly if the incorrect plug was used

You can't cut corners with Aluminum or copper wiring

doing so will cause a fire eventually

Beezel
join:2008-12-15
Las Vegas, NV

Beezel to nunya

Member

to nunya
said by nunya:

Hey my boy Schneider.....

whizkid3
MVM
join:2002-02-21
Queens, NY

1 recommendation

whizkid3

MVM

Haven't you heard of Schneider Electric?

»www.schneider-electric.com

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

UHF

MVM

She works for the fire department. I'll see if she can have the chief go do a fire inspection

DarkHelmet
join:2014-02-21

DarkHelmet

Member

said by UHF:

She works for the fire department. I'll see if she can have the chief go do a fire inspection

Just have her tell the landlord about the issue. You don't have to go behind their back. Do you just want her to piss off her landlord? If the landlord doesn't remedy the problem THEN take the next step.

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

UHF

MVM

I'm sure the landlord knows and doesn't care. She's had a lot of issues at that complex that they "fix" only to have the problem return a few weeks later. So why doesn't she move? Good question!

DarkHelmet
join:2014-02-21

DarkHelmet

Member

said by UHF:

I'm sure the landlord knows and doesn't care. She's had a lot of issues at that complex that they "fix" only to have the problem return a few weeks later. So why doesn't she move? Good question!

We all know what assumptions get and in a legal battle guess who will be wrong? Don't set your friend up for failure. There is a specified legal process to handle this typically spelled out in the lease or by state law.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to wth

MVM

to wth
said by wth:

I'd say that maint man has a lot of work to check/switch out all of the GFCI outlets before the apartment complex burns down.

Not gonna happen

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

UHF to DarkHelmet

MVM

to DarkHelmet
The maintenance man, who works for the landlord, told her the wiring was aluminum. Apparently he called in a second guy because he wasn't qualified to work on this problem. She said the second guy appeared to know what he was doing, but I'm not sure what he did to actually fix it. Hopefully he did it right, but the rest of the wiring in the building is a concern.

I'll tell her to ask management to check over the rest of the wiring in her unit. Maybe she can say she's paranoid because one of the firemen told her it can be dangerous, and then they won't think she's "bitching" so much as just being a paranoid little bitch

DarkHelmet
join:2014-02-21

DarkHelmet

Member

said by UHF:

The maintenance man, who works for the landlord, told her the wiring was aluminum. Apparently he called in a second guy because he wasn't qualified to work on this problem. She said the second guy appeared to know what he was doing, but I'm not sure what he did to actually fix it. Hopefully he did it right, but the rest of the wiring in the building is a concern.

I'll tell her to ask management to check over the rest of the wiring in her unit. Maybe she can say she's paranoid because one of the firemen told her it can be dangerous, and then they won't think she's "bitching" so much as just being a paranoid little bitch

You're not going to get them to rewire the building even if you call every news station and fire department in the entire state. The best you can do is get them to make sure what's there is safe.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to Anonymous_

MVM

to Anonymous_
said by Anonymous_:

better hope they cover Aluminum wiring LOL

most insurances have a clause that will decline the claim... more then likely it has a higher premium.

I don't believe that's true. The insurance company agreed to cover it as-is. If they don't like AL wiring, they need to "inspect" the property before they write the policy and at that point, say they won't cover it because of (insert reason(s) here).

UHF
All static, all day, Forever
MVM
join:2002-05-24

UHF to Hall

MVM

to Hall
said by Hall:

Not gonna happen

Probably not. My experience with managers of large complexes is that they don't care, if something happens then insurance can pay to fix it.

I lived in a building built in '68 that had aluminum wire, and sure enough, there was a fire that destroyed 4 units, and caused smoke damage to 30 more units. Did they check the wiring in any of the other units after the fire? No. Did they try their best to hide the fact that the fire was caused by aluminum wiring? Yes.

Officially the cause was "unknown". The electrician that was contracted to work on the building told me it was aluminum wiring. As did several fire fighters. I moved when my lease was up.
UHF

UHF to DarkHelmet

MVM

to DarkHelmet
said by DarkHelmet:

ou're not going to get them to rewire the building even if you call every news station and fire department in the entire state. The best you can do is get them to make sure what's there is safe.

I agree. That's all I would expect them to do. Just check terminations to make sure they're tight and not getting hot.

Lurch77
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
Green Bay, WI

Lurch77 to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
said by Hall:

said by Anonymous_:

better hope they cover Aluminum wiring LOL

most insurances have a clause that will decline the claim... more then likely it has a higher premium.

I don't believe that's true. The insurance company agreed to cover it as-is. If they don't like AL wiring, they need to "inspect" the property before they write the policy and at that point, say they won't cover it because of (insert reason(s) here).

Yeah, in my renting years I've never had an inspection of the property done to get coverage. And they never asked me specifics like this. They generally just asked standard questions, like address, type of dwelling, and sometimes what I thought my belongings would cost to replace. They never asked about the electric, appliance power source, roof type, etc.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt to UHF

Member

to UHF
said by UHF:

Is this a case of Aluminum wiring make poor contact, or is something more going on here?

I read an article as to why Aluminum wire was decertified from being used for residential interior wiring many years ago. There were several electrical fires caused by cold flow. It was a characteristic of aluminum to cold flow. No matter how you tighten the screw the Aluminum wire will flow away from the pressure exerted by the screw compressing the wire unless the terminal compresses the wire all the way around. If you look at the terminals terminating aluminum service entrance cable you will see that the terminal completely compresses the conductor to prevent cold flow. There are pigtail adapters to transition Aluminum wire to copper conductors.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to Lurch77

MVM

to Lurch77
In the case of renter's insurance, yeah, they're generally only concerned with your stuff. The structure is someone else's problem.

Even in the case of homeowner's insurance, when we moved in, the agent came to our house for an "inspection". I say inspection because I'm sure it was nothing more than "look for existing damage so they can't file a claim later". He did take rough measurements, looked around, and asked if we had a dog or dogs and if so, what breed. As far as I know, he knew nothing about structures, wiring, plumbing, etc -- he was not a "home inspector". Years later, we switched, and the agent had one of his assistants do a "drive-by" inspection. Nothing more....

------------

I did find some stuff while Googling about some carriers will refuse to write a policy if they know there's AL wiring, but nothing done after the fact. That's a different matter though.

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

Anonymous_ to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
said by Hall:

said by Anonymous_:

better hope they cover Aluminum wiring LOL

most insurances have a clause that will decline the claim... more then likely it has a higher premium.

I don't believe that's true. The insurance company agreed to cover it as-is. If they don't like AL wiring, they need to "inspect" the property before they write the policy and at that point, say they won't cover it because of (insert reason(s) here).

Well it must be a grandfathered policy then.

DarkHelmet
join:2014-02-21

DarkHelmet

Member

said by Anonymous_:

said by Hall:

said by Anonymous_:

better hope they cover Aluminum wiring LOL

most insurances have a clause that will decline the claim... more then likely it has a higher premium.

I don't believe that's true. The insurance company agreed to cover it as-is. If they don't like AL wiring, they need to "inspect" the property before they write the policy and at that point, say they won't cover it because of (insert reason(s) here).

Well it must be a grandfathered policy then.

Maybe it's by state but here I just switched companies and there's nothing about aluminum wiring anywhere and most houses were built between 1950 and 1970 in this area. If they write the policy they'll cover it.

OldCableGuy2
@communications.net

OldCableGuy2

Anon

Any good insurance company worth their salt is going to send an inspector out and yes they'll check for Au wiring as this is a well known issue. Sure, your major companies like Nationwide/State Farm/etc don't do this, but then you are paying for all the payouts for issues like this. My insurance company literally costs 1/3 of those, is a mutual that only covers my county, and the inspect every property they write a policy for. They wouldn't give me replacement cost on my roof because it was 10 years old, but once I replaced the (10 years later) roof they sent an inspector out and they rewrote my policy for replacement cost on the roof.
OldCableGuy2

OldCableGuy2

Anon

Whoops I meant Al wiring, for some reason my phone changed that from Al to Au.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA to OldCableGuy2

Premium Member

to OldCableGuy2
said by OldCableGuy2 :

Any good insurance company worth their salt is going to send an inspector out and yes they'll check for Au wiring as this is a well known issue. Sure, your major companies like Nationwide/

Nationwide is in fact a mutual company. i.e.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

They did not check for Aluminum wiring.