Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

[Chuck Guzis]

  > On Dec 31, 2015, at 3:17 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans <oltmansg at gmail.com> 
wrote:

> "CO/ALR switches and outlets are required anywhere aluminum wiring has been
> installed."

I thought that the only approved method was using a hydraulic tool to 
crimp a copper pigtail onto aluminum.

My kitchen still has aluminum wiring for the stove and oven 
hookups--gray wire-nuts with goop inside., as does the laundry room 
drier  The heat pump and water heater similarly have aluminum wire, but 
there the runs are very short from the breaker box--perhaps 5 feet, so I 
don't worry too much about those.

I always wondered about how effective the gray nuts were...

Fortunately, the lighting and low-voltage circuits are all 12/3 copper. 
  I wired my shop outlets with 12/3 also, because copper prices were at 
a low then and the price difference between 14/3 and 12/3 was negligible..

--Chuck