Aluminum Wiring in Our Home--Dangerous? (appliances, how much, houses)

[LoveBeingAMommy]

We bought our home from an old lady who did NOT keep up her home. Upon inspection, we were warned of the aluminum wiring. The lady did not make a financial concession; rather, she claimed to have pigtailed. However, we don't know what to trust with this electric. When we moved in, we installed approx. 22 high hat lights. Turns out the guy who installed them never even added another breaker to the panel. So we are wondering how he connected copper with aluminum, and whether or not it was done safely. I will say that since installation, lights will occasionally dim, or a high hat will go off and come back on an hour later.

Should we just convert to all copper, save ourselves the wondering? Because we want to renovate the kitchen and 2 bathrooms, so we figure now may be the time. Any idea how much converting from aluminum to copper costs? We have a 200 amp service with a new panel, so that is okay. It is a ranch with an open attic and unfinished basement, so access is easy. Help, please.

[Buckthedog]

First and foremost, change the wiring as you can. When you do remodeling projects where the walls are open, by all means, go with the copper replacement.
Next, check all your connections on switches, receptacles (outlets), light fixtures and splices. If they were pigtaled, you'll find a short legnth of copper wire spliced to the aluminum wire, and the copper wire feeding the device. The fail point of the aluminum wiring was the connections. Aluminum heats and cools (thus expanding and contracting) differently than copper, so it had a tendcey to loosen connections. Any devices (switches & outlets) that have aluminum wire directly to them MUST be marked that they can be used with aluminum wire. (Marked CU, AL) if you see the letters AL with a stikethrough then its the wrong device. Check all the connections regularly for signs of overheating, arcing, burning etc. Yearly is more than enough. There are still countless homes on LI that have aluminum wiring, and theyre fine.
Mind you Aluminum wiring for large loads (electric range, electric dryer) are normal and fine.
As for the high hats, is it 22 one one circuit breaker? or is it 22 on different circut breakers that were already there? When they occasionally dim, is a refrigerator, air conditioner or someother high energy load starting?
As for the one that turns on and off, that is a thermal protector inside the fixture. Its one of three things. 1) you have the wrong type of bulb in the fixture 2) there is insulation resting on the fixture in the attic or wherever, many high hats the insulation must be cut back about 3 inches. 3) It is a defectice thermal protective device (they do go bad)

[LIgirl74]

We have aluminum wiring in our home as well. In the late 1960's and 1970's they used aluminum wiring in homes b/c copper was too much money. Later on they discovered that aluminum conductor is not the best and outlets can heat up and cause a fire. I was just like you with the worrying..I actually have a previous post on here somewhere and I was freaking out. Since then, I have had my worries put to rest. We thought of rewiring the entire house but it's not a cheap project...jsut think, they would have to rip out all of your wiring and ruin all of your sheetrock to do the entire house over...too much$$. So, my recommendation to you is as you go along..if you remodel your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, when ripping the sheetrock, have the electric wiring redone. They would basically abandon the aluminum wiring or I think they can totally remove it. Since my post months ago, I found out only about a third of my house is still aluminum. We also tore our 2nd bedroom apart b/c the wallpaper ruined the walls...when doing so, we ran copper wire. Aluminum wiring is a hazard...if not pigtailed properly. In the meantime, we called in an electrician to make sure all of our outlets, switches and appliances are pigtailed. There is a guy who does a copalum (I think that's the word) on Long Island who has a special machine that basically melts the copper and aluminum together (better than pigtailing) but it costs thousands of dollars...I know b/c I called him. Also, there is only one guy on Long Island who does this. It's not common b/c most people don't have it done and their homes are pigtailed.

As far as high hats, etc...anything that is new in your home (that you install) will be run via copper wire. We had new high hats installed and other switches installed and they are all run via copper. I'm not sure hwo they do it but they do it with copper. The thing with aluminum is most of the time the issue is at the outlet if it is not pigtailed properly. For instance, if your outlets are not pigtailed and you plug your hair dryer in to the outlet or anything into the outlet what happens is the outlet heats up from the aluminum and that's where the fire will start in your home (at the outlet area). Just be sure to check your outlets occasionally if you have stuff plugged in to see if they feel warm, if the do, then def unplug what you have in there and call an electrician b/c the warm feeling is not a good sign. Trust me, once you are at ease knowing your home is pigtailed properly, you will feel SO MUCH better! I think about it occasionally but my mind was def put at ease when i found out it was only a third of my house with aluminum (your house may be less also) and knowing that we tore apart the 2nd b/r where a child would reside b/c children or babies rather can't tell you if they are playing in there and the outlet is getting hot. I did that room for my own issue...worrying about kids playing in their bedroom. Don't make yourself crazy. Get an electrician to come in and go through all your outlets, switches, and appliances (burner, CAC, etc.) to make sure you are safe. Also, like I said, once in a while feel the outlet if you have stuff plugged in all the time to make sure it's not hot. I know having aluminum isn't the best but it would cost you so much more money to rip your house apart to wire up the entire house with copper. It's not the homeowner's fault that the house was built with aluminum. I felt the same way as you when we were purchasing our house...wanted $$ off b/c of the aluminum but in reality, the house was built that way...so many houses have aluminum and you would never know it.

Good luck and try not to make yourself crazy.