13 Jul
2005
13 Jul
'05
2:21 a.m.
Someone wrote...(re: AL wiring)
> What were they thinking?
Someone else
replied...
I, too, wonder at what was going on with this clearly
terrible
idea. Cost, I assume, but even that's silly -- it's a classic
case of lifetime system cost increase >> component cost savings.
A contractor-friendly savings; they're long out of there by the
time problems manifest.
They were thinking about WW2, that's when people switched to AL as copper
was scarce on the home front. At least that's what I recall being told. Plus
I know there was a time back when our house was originally built that copper
was astronomically expensive (I think pennies changed to clad then?) and
that may also have been a driving factor.
About half the wiring in my house is AL, the rest copper. As long as you use
the switches & outlets made for AL, and every few years undo them all, rough
up the ends, apply the special AL goo stuff, and tighten them back down it
IS safe. However, it's a royal PAIN to maintain the way it's supposed to be.
Jay