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Photograph of ALUMINUM WIRE  - Recognizing aluminum wiring may be possible where nonmetallic wiring is visible such as in attics or basements.How to Recognize Aluminum Electrical Wiring in Buildings
Tips for identifying aluminum wiring in homes

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about aluminum electrical wiring identification methods: what aluminum electrical wiring looks like, brands, labels, appearance

How to recognize or identify aluminum electrical wiring in buildings. This article provides tips and photographs helpful in identifying the presence of aluminum wiring in residential properties. Because we've had requests for help in identifying this wire we've included some tips.

Be sure to also look at other photographs available at the Aluminum Wiring Website as many of them show closeups of aluminum wire in various applications.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

How to Find or Identify Aluminum Electrical Wiring in Homes

Photograph of Aluminum wire in the
electric panelHere we describe how determine if your home has unsafe aluminum wiring: a fire hazard, and what to do about it if it's present. Simple visual inspection can find aluminum wiring and with a bit more visual inspection one can determine if it has been properly repaired to make it safe.

Watch out: unless you are specifically trained to do so, do not open or disassemble or touch any electrical panels, devices, components if you are not trained and competent. There is risk of fatal electric shock.

[Click to enlarte any image]

First let's discuss how you'll find out if your home contains aluminum wiring at all.

Photograph of Aluminum wire in the
electric panel

Photograph of Kaiser Aluminum Wire

Photograph of ALUMINUM WIRE  - Recognizing aluminum wiring may be possible where nonmetallic wiring is visible such as in attics or basements.

Photograph of ALUMINUM WIRE in a junction box.

Photograph of aluminum splice to stranded copper in light fixture

Photo of the AMP COPALUM aluminum wiring connector recommended by the US CPSC

Photo of the AlumiConn aluminum wire lug connector sold by King Innovations

Photo of the 3M Scotchlok wiring connector which can be used for aluminum wiring repairs, has tested
successfully but has not been recommended by the US CPSC

Photograph of a non-recommended twist-on connector repair attempt

Photograph of overheated multistrand aluminum wire on a 240V circuit.

Copper electrical wire conductors with an aluminum ground in fabric sheathing (C) InspectApedia.com Aronstein Farrell

Watch out: these conditions indicate fire hazards in your building.

Other "Silver-Colored" Wires that May Not be Aluminum

Watch out: don't be fooled by thinking that every silver-colored electrical wire is aluminum. There are at least two other silver-colored wires that you may encounter in buildings that are not aluminum:

  1. Tinned copper or plated copper wire: this is copper wire coated with a tin plating. It's easily identified by scraping the wire surface enough to remove the plating and expose the red-copper wire beneath.

    Watch out: of course never try such as foolish trick without first dropping electrical power to the wire in question and confirming that power is in fact "off"

    See details at TINNED COPPER WIRE IDENTIFICATION
  2. Steel electrical wire or plated steel wire: in the U.S. and possibly some other countries, homes built during World War II may have been wired with all steel electrical wire or with plated steel wire.

    [Thanks to Dr. Jess Aronstein for this tip. Jess reported: Possibly even plated steel. A friend once lived in a house built during WWII that had (all) steel wiring. - personal communication 2021/02/26 - Ed.]

Bottom line: you cannot assume that all copper-colored wire is solid copper (it may be copper plated aluminum, for example), nor that all silver colored wire is aluminum. Every imaginable combination of core and top surface coatings have been tried for electrical wires across a wide range of applications: tin plated copper, nickel plated copper, copper plated steel, copper plated aluminum, tin platings, etc, from A to Z: literally - electrical wire plating, whether used on copper or on steel, may have been a zinc coating, (Jakubeniene 2006)

7 Points of Key Aluminum Wiring Repair Advice

Home inspectiors and electricians should give appropriate warnings to homeowners or customers including the following:

  1. Watch out: Aluminum Electrical Wiring is a Fire Hazard in Homes unless it has been properly repaired (or removed entirely)

    see ALUMINUM WIRING SAFETY ASSESSMENT - CPSC.

    For help in recognizing aluminum electrical wiring in homes

    see ALUMINUM WIRING IDENTIFICATION.
  2. Aluminum wire repair cost:

    Aluminum Electrical Wiring repairs in a home where that work has not been performed will be a significant expense
  3. Aluminum wire repair urgency:

    Aluminum wiring repairs should not be deferred, as the risk increases with age and use of the electrical system; meanwhile be sure that the home has working smoke detectors, and turn off any circuits behaving oddly.
  4. Who can repair aluminum electrical wire?

    Aluminum wiring repairs should be performed only by a licensed electrician who is well informed about the correct repair methods. Using an improper repair method may actually increase the risk of a fire.

    See ALUMINUM WIRING REPAIR ELECTRICIANS
  5. Which aluminum wire repair methods are acceptable?

    Use one of the repair methods recommended by the US CPSC:

    Replace the aluminum wire with copper.

    Use the AMP / TYCO COPALUM connector to pigtail copper extensions to every aluminum branch circuit wire end

    See PIGTAILING USING AMP "COPALUM" CONNECTORS.

    Use the AlumiConn™ connector to pigtail copper extensions to every aluminum branch circuit wire end

    ALUMINUM WIRE AlumiConn describes using this device and how it is connected, wired, and torqued.

    Details of procedures to make aluminum wiring safe are

    at ALUMINUM WIRING REPAIR METHODS - home
  6. Are some aluminum wire repair methods unsafe?

    Yes. Do not use any of the following aluminum wiring repair methods
    1. COALR or CU-AL devices -

      see ALUMINUM WIRING REPAIR COALR & CU-AL
    2. Twist-on connectors such as the Ideal-65 purple "twister" or other connection methods not recommended by the CPSC

      see ALUMINUM WIRING REPAIRS NOT-RECOMMENDED
  7. Feel free to copy and place the following ALUMINUM WIRIING SUMMARY free to copy page at your website or to make printed copies to give to consumers at no charge

 

Aluminum Wire Repair & Safety Documents & Supporting Research

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2021-03-11 by (mod) - Clifton-conduit-E-7032-Type-NM-12/2 electrical wire: aluminum wiring hazard warnings

Clifton conduit e-7032  electrical wire may need aluminum wire repair for safety (C) InspectApedia.com anon@Anonymous,

Watch out: Aluminum wire may have been added for more than 1 circuit, and may not be so labeled.

An electrician, inspecting in the electrical panel and in electrical boxes where your Clifton Conduit #12 wire is present can easily see the stripped metal wire ends to determine if aluminum wire is present - as I suspect it is.

Often the use of #12 wire on what's usually a 15 amp circuit is a Clue.

On 2021-03-11 by Anonymous

thank you, the home was built in 1925 and in the Portland Oregon area. There are a lot of different types of wiring. Before I moved in the seller did some repairs to the wiring and I had it reinspected. It was deemed safe, based on what they could see.

My house was previous a rental for many years and it is becoming apparent it was subject to many haphazard and cheap repairs.

The wire does not have AL or CU or anything else I can find indicating material on it. The switch does not appear to be connected to anything else so I don’t know if it was for a light, fan or heater that has since been removed. The box for the switch is also packed with what looks like fiberglass insulation, which I have never seen before.

This Q&A were posted originally at FABRIC NMC WIRE INSULATION IDENTIFICATION

Question: when did they stop using aluminum electrical wiring? 1971, 1973, 1976 ?

2019/10/13 Doug Rudder

I am thinking about buying a 1972 singlewide trailer for a rental in florida ive researched and get 3 different years 1971, 1973, 1976.

I wish that I could get a concrete answer for sure when aluminum wiring was stopped being used and copper began.

Reply: By 1973 MOST BUT NOT ALL electricians stopped installing aluminum wiring in U.S. homes

Doug

You're right to gripe about getting a clear answer to "when did they stop using aluminum electrical wiring".

Putting a date on the aluminum electrical wiring can be tricky, because there were different hazards reported both with "old technology" aluminum wire that was installed up to 1972, and "new technology" aluminum wire that was installed later but at least some of which was equally hazardous.

Homes built before 1965 are unlikely to have aluminum branch circuit wiring. Homes in the United States built, rooms added, and circuits rewired or added between 1965 and 1973 may contain aluminum wiring. Canadian homes built during a similar problem also often included aluminum wiring, though some Canadian officials take a less cautious view of the aluminum wiring fire hazard than those in the U.S.

Watch out: In my OPINON it is dead wrong and a dangerous mistake to even try to rule in or rule out the presence of an aluminum wiring hazard at a home simply by looking at the home's manufacturing or construction date alone.

Instead one should actually inspect the wiring in the home for the presence of aluminum electrical wire. That step can rule in or out the aluminum wiring hazard based on fact, not speculation.

Why take the factual, inspection approach?

Because aluminum wire branch circuit conductors were sometimes installed in homes built both before aluminum wire was in common use as well as after. For example a home wired entirely with copper and built in 1955 might have had circuits installed using aluminum wire in 1972.

Similarly a home built in 1973 may have had an aluminum wire circuit added by an electrician using "new old stock" aluminum wire.

Bottom line: if you find solid conductor aluminum electrical wiring in your home you should consider it unsafe. Don't rely on a guess or the age of the home. Instead, look at the electrical wiring.

So take a look at ALUMINUM WIRING IDENTIFICATION

and have your electrician or home inspector actually look at the wiring - it's easy to identify aluminum conductors.

Finally: IF a home has had aluminum wiring installed, that wiring is unsafe and is a fire hazard UNLESS the wiring has either been replaced entirely with copper OR has been repaired using the two US CPSC approved connectors for pigtailing to copper: the AMP COPALUM or the AlumiConn. Both of those are discussed at this website.

On 2017-10-02 by DFK

Thank you. I am house hunting and this article is very helpful.

On 2016-12-19 by Dan Quintos

I was inspecting a center row-house built approx. 1980. When I looked at the electrical panel, one of the wires caught my eye as it had the following label - LOOMEX-7-NMD-12/2. Could this possibly be aluminum wiring? I'm in Toronto, Canada.
Thanks!

On 2016-10-18 by Paul Henderson

My house has the proper aluminum Plugs and switches throughout. Why isn't this approved by citizens as long as a licensed electrician installs and certifies the installation. The house has been here for 45 years and no handy men have touched the system. I have noticed only three places where the wires appeared to have over heated.

On 2016-08-16 by (mod) -

You might make connections that are improper, overheat, catch fire.

Or by tightening connections you might slightly reduce risk - at the point of those connections - for a time.

Or by wiggling wires around you might loosen a connection increasing the chance of a subsequent failure, overheat, fire.

On 2016-08-15 by Cathy

What will ocurr if you change outlets and do not know If you have aluminum wiring.

On 2015-11-21 by (mod) - no #14 Aluminum Wire in residential home circuits

Considering the age of your home there could be aluminum wiring. Your electrician can open the electrical panel: that's a good place to start looking for aluminum wire.

Yes a #14 copper wire may have been spliced onto a #12 aluminum wire as part of repairing aluminum wiring.

Watch out: such pigtailining splices must have been made using one of the two US CPSC recommended connectors: the AMP COPALUM crimp connector or the AlumiConn connector produced later.

In residential use the smallest aluminum wire gauge you'd expect to find installed in a home's branch circuit wiring is #12 aluminum on a 15-Amp electrical circuit.

A copper wire on a 15-Amp circuit would commonly be size No. 14 but not aluminum. Aluminum wire used in electrical circuits will be one size larger than its copper wire sister.

On 2015-11-21 by Anonymous - Anaconda Aluminum Wire?

Hello, thanks for the info. My mobile home is a 1972 Brookwood. One of the bedrooms has wires exposed from the ceiling. the seller took her chandelier out & the wires say Anaconda #14 on them.

A couple of the wires are white copper wires & there are 3 black wires also. Is it possible those wires were pig tailed onto the aluminum wires?

The seller said she lived there for 6 years & never had any electrical problems & mentioned that she had an electrician friend check it out after she moved in because she has a small child! She also mentioned that the previous owner who she purchase it from, had the circuit breaker moved into the home form outside.
I just purchased the home recently!
Wes

Question: is LED wiring the same as aluminum wire?

(Apr 11, 2014) lucie said:

is led wiring the same as aluminium wire

If you meant "lead" - lead was not used as the electrical conductor in building wiring.

And of course lead (Pb in the atomic chart) is a different metal from alumionum (Al ).

Reply: No.

Lucie,

I don't know what you are referring to. In general the triplet LED refers to "light emitting diodes"

which has nothing to do with aluminum electrical wiring.

(Apr 27, 2014) RuD said:
I guess she meant lead

Reply:

RuD
I'm not sure we've encountered lead electrical wiring either.


...

Continue reading at COPPER-CLAD ALUMINUM WIRE (safe in homes) where we distinguish among copper-clad aluminum wire, plated copper wire, and CU/AL or COLAR devices, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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