Field reports & photos of aluminum electrical wiring failures, overheats, fires: this article contains photo-documented reports of actual in-service aluminum wiring failures in homes.

We have been receiving reports from home owners, builders, and building professionals since 1990. However this page was created in July 2004, so it will not contain all of the historical data. Recent reports, photographs, anecdotes are be displayed here. When I complete statistical analysis of prior reports I'll add that data at this page.

Aluminum Wiring Overheating Reports with failure photographs

240V Heat Pump Circuit - Aluminum Wiring Failure Case

"I was replacing the heat pump unit on our home and went under the house to wire in the new unit to an existing junction box. Upon opening the box I let out an expletive and then went right to our local home center to purchase some new copper wire to run from the service panel to the new unit.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Whoever wired the previous unit must have had some Al wire around but not quite enough to reach the unit, so they used a junction box to connect Al and Cu wire. Fortunately, the so-called technicians used a steel box otherwise the house could have burned down.

This was the only aluminum wiring I have found thus far but I'm not done inspecting yet."-- J.F. 6/30/2004

Editor's-note: see also this LAB PHOTO of OVERHEATING TWIST-ON CONNECTOR [image file, courtesy Dr. Jess Aronstein cited atReferences or Citations ] to show the overheat mechanism in the case above

Ideal-65 "Twister" Burnup in Field Use - Aluminum Wiring Failure Case Photos

Ideal 65 Purple "Twister" Field Burn-up-1, from Alex Costantino

Ideal 65 Twister Field Burn-up-2, from Alex Costantino

Ideal 65 Twister Field Burn-up-3, from Alex Costantino

Ideal 65 Twister Field Burn-up-4, from Alex Costantino

Ideal 65 Twister Field Burn-up-5, from Alex Costantino

Additional details about this failure are at Mr. Costantino's Web Page about this case.

Electrical Panel Overheat - Aluminum Wiring Failure Case Photos

Aluminum Wire Overheat in Electric Panel, from J. Simmons - Electrician, 14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat in Electric Panel2, from J. Simmons - Electrician, 14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat in Electric Panel3, from J. Simmons - Electrician, 14 Mar 2006

Electrical Receptacle Burnup - Aluminum Wiring Failure Case Photos

Aluminum Wire Overheat at electrical receptacle, from J. Simmons14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat at electrical receptacle2, from J. Simmons 14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat at electrical receptacle3, from J. Simmons 14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat at electrical receptacle4, from J. Simmons 14 Mar 2006

Aluminum Wire Overheat at electrical receptacle5, from J. Simmons14 Mar 2006

 

Copper to Aluminum Pigtail Overheat - in Electric Panel, including infra-red Case Photos

Improper copper to aluminum splice does not use an approved connector and is visibly
overheated both in this photo and in next IR photo below.

Infra red photo of overheating copper to aluminum pigtail in the splice shown above

Infra red photo of overheating connection aluminum to copper splice in an electrical panel

Infra red photo of overheating circuit breaker with aluminum wiring

Contributor - Gordon Cohen: These thermal imaging photos of overheating aluminum splices and circuit breakers with aluminum wiring are courtesy of Gordon Cohen, June 2006. Mr. Gordon offers home inspections and thermal imaging services in Florida and is also employed by ServiceMaster as a project manager. Email: Infraredinspections@cfl.rr.com

Twist-on connector overheating cases - Forensic Engineer Reports

Aronstein reports and provides these additional examples of aluminum wiring field failures.

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2014-11-07 by (mod) -

Anon

The big concern is that aluminum electrical wiring connections are considerably more likely to overheat and cause a building fire and thus offer the risks that any house fire offers (property loss, costs, injury or worse) than are copper wiring connections in the same application.

It is certainly true that wiring overheats and fires do not occur in 100% of cases. But the fact that you have been lucky - glad to hear it - and have not observed any trouble with your wiring is a poor promise that un-repaired aluminum wiring is safe (yours or anyone else's).

On 2014-11-07 by Anonymous

We have owned a house with just aluminum wiring for 40 years. I had to tighten one connection to the dishwasher. What si the big concern?

On 2012-06-27 by (mod) -

Tom, guess I'm a little confused about this layout, since I expect a "main" lug to be bringing power to the breaker not from it.

I agree that a short or over current downstream from a breaker should tripnit. Two cases fail to do so.

1. A defective breaker - was this one an FPE? Failure to trip is common, up to 60% for 2 pole breakers.

2. Characteristic of aluminum wire connections is that a connector can overheat enough to burn up or start a fire without ever drawing enough current to trip the breaker.

On 2012-06-26 by Tom

Thanks Dan. Wondering why the 100A main breaker didn't trip since the main lug is downstream of it. The lug was blown clean off the electrical panel.

On 2012-06-26 by (mod) -

Tom, the electrical service entry main wire is basically un-fused from the point where that wire connects to the electrical panel main breaker and the electric meter as well as between the electrical meter and the overhead wires and between the overhead wires and the utility pole.

So I wouldn't expect a breaker within the electrical panel to sense an overcurrent nor to trip if the problem was overheating at the main connector lugs ahead of the main breaker.

Stated another way, the overcurrent protection provided for your home starts at the 100A main breaker that is protecting everything connected "downstream" from that point - the panel buses and breakers within the panel; the individual circuit breakers protect just the wire for the circuit connected to each breaker.

None of those safety devices sense "backwards" to what's happening upstream from them.

On 2012-06-26 by Tom

I live in a condo and one of the 110 main lines melted at the breaker box leaving me only one leg and the neutral. The wire was aluminum. The 100 amp breaker at the meter did not trip. None of the breakers in the breaker box tripped either. Electrician is recommending new service panel, new line side copper wiring, and a new 100 amp breaker at meter. Condo unit was built in the 80s I believe. My question is why didn't any breakers trip as this could have easily caused a fire. Thanks in advance.

On 2012-05-29 by (mod) -

No, Pat, it's common for the line to be abraded or lightly shaved - a step that, if combined with use of an antioxidant, actually improves the connection. If on the other hand, a significant percentage of the wire diameter had been cut away, the connection could overheat.

On 2012-05-29 by Pat

installing alluminum service line the insulation was scraped or lightly shaved , will that cause a problem or the service line to fail in the future?

On 2011-10-12 by (mod) -

Steve, we're sorry to read of your aluminum wiring related fire loss - it is certainly substantial, and no doubt that would make anyone a believer in the need to properly repair aluminum electrical wiring.

The COPALUM or Alumi-Conn connectors are the two that work and that are recommended by the US CPSC for this repair.

Electrical codes make an exception to box crowding rules for AL wire repairs, but if your electrician cannot easily fit all of the necessary copper pigtails into the main electrical panel (for example if the panel is already small and overcrowded) s/he should be able to add the necessary junction boxes outside of the panel to obtain additional space to connect the existing AL circuits to copper pigtails using the proper connectors.

Make sure that EVERY device and aluminum wiring connection in the building is repaired. Otherwise, though you may have reduced the risk of an aluminum wire fire, it has not been eliminated, and worse, because a partial repair may lead people to think the problem has been "fixed" they may ignore future warning signs and thus have a fire or loss.

In apartment complexes the concern is exacerbated by the observation that if even a single apartment owner fails to have the proper repairs made, all of the residents in the structure remain at risk.

That's why your townhouse association was correct to require that all aluminum wiring be repaired, not just the location of the particular connection that experienced a particular case of overheating and fire.

Finally: multi-strand aluminum wire continues to be used on special purpose high-amp circuits such as A/C systems, electric ovens, clothes dryers. These connections can also overheat and fail (as yours appears to have done). Making proper connections using proper sequence of abrading wire and proper use of antioxidant and proper torquing of the connectors can reduce (though in my opinion not eliminate) that risk. You are correct that COPALUM or Alumi-Conn connectors are not for that wire type.

On 2011-10-12 by (mod) -

Bill I don't understand the connections in your question.

On 2011-10-12 by Steve R

I have aluminum wiring at my townhouse and there was a fire at the electrical panel on the garage on a hot day when the sun was facing onto the panel. It caused $25,000 damage. No one was home. Probably the air conditioner was on. Is there a fix for an electrical panel wired in aluminum.

Does not look like copalum or alumi-conn address this. As far as I know heat does not travel distance through either copper or aluminum wiring. The townhouse association decided to make all home owners upgrade to either copalum or alumi-conn for outlets. Could this repair help a panel fire.

On 2011-09-22 by bill

i just connected my 100watt(aluminium wire) lamp to a dual florescent fixture(copper wire) will this cause a overheated circuity?

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