Wisest method to remediate aluminum wiring

[mandelbrot]

Hey mustache land,
I'm afraid this is more of a help-me-choose-the-best-electrician question than a strictly Do It Yourself question. But help me out if you have any experience here. Thanks!

So, The Story:
My wife and I are buying our first house, woo hoo!

One of the items up for immediate repair is the aluminum branch wiring that is throughout most of the home. House was constructed in 1972 so probably right before everything switched over to copper.

In my research and shopping around, I've heard from electricians who use the following methods to remediate aluminum branch wiring:

• AlumiConn connectors (a little purple set screw thing) at each outlet / device
• Purple wire nuts (from Ideal Industries) which I believe are similar to #1 but less sophisticated (?), again at each outlet or device location
• Installing "COLAR" devices, which I understand very poorly but the vendor said some of this work would be done in the attic, and it would include GFCI protection where we need it, which is another repair item that we're considering doing soon.

These are actually listed in decreasing order of price. We got a very competitive bid on #3 but I know almost nothing about what that really is. On top of that, well, to be honest I am only just now hitting the tip of the iceberg in terms of learning-to-do-stuff myself, so I don't really know the second thing about electricity and wiring. Please dumb down your responses for me if you can :-)

So the questions:

• Is there a particular solution among these options that is particularly bad or good in your experience?
• If not (or if so), would you advise simply choosing the most economical bid? All of the vendors I've checked are extensively and highly rated on Yelp so I don't think I'll be getting any kind of hacked-together low quality job from any of them.
• Regarding #3 above, does anyone have experience with the cost or time expense of installing GFCI protection on your own -- and / or is it a huge good idea for me to spring for the GFCI-is-included-as-part-of-the-cost option for that reason?

Hope my questions make sense. Just trying to hunt around for other opinions aside from our (rather ignorant) realtor. And unfortunately my Dad is the perfectionist / alarmist type, so while he is extremely knowledgeable, he is also not necessarily trustworthy in terms of providing advice that is reasonable / thrifty. He would fix 99.9% of everything in the house as soon as possible, if it were his choice -- and that's how he maintains his own house. But that's not within our budget right now, and we also deem that approach to be unnecessarily forceful / expensive. So, trying to get some Mustachian opinions to weigh in here -- what's your experience with dealing with this stuff?


Any commentary or questions are welcome. Thanks!

[kendallf]

I also have a house with aluminum wiring, and I have mostly left mine alone.  If the outlets and switches are installed properly, inspection does not reveal overheated wires (browning, brittle insulation), and you dont have any circuits where lights flicker when the load is changed, they'll be ok.

The "Colar" devices you mention are probably Co/ALR devices, i.e., rated for both, usually with aluminum clad connections.  These would be a good idea anyway.

I don't like the idea of wire nutted pigtails for several reasons.  One is they are one more connection and possible failure point, and they have to be stuffed into the receptacle box in tight quarters.  Just asking for trouble if anybody moves them later and they loosen.

I've heard of crimps or pigtails using a high pressure mechanical crimper or set screw junctions, which sound better to me, but I haven't used them.

The only places I've had trouble were junctions that had to connect copper wire to aluminum, such as my water heater.  Even using the special purple wire nuts and anti oxidant compound, I have had these overheat and open.  Keep all junctions in a box per code for this reason..

I should add that I am not an electrician, though I am an electrical engineer.  :-)

[swick]

I feel for you! I don't have much advice, we spent a huge amount of time to find a house that didn't have aluminum wiring. In our area pig-tailing must be done before you can even get insurance (which is usually required for the mortgage) so many buyers insist on an electrical inspection and any correction before the house sells. The disadvantage is then you don't know who did the work, and there have been several house fires  in the past 10 or so years due to improper pig-tailing.

Another problem that cropped up is if it is still aluminum, or the pig-tailing has been done improperly you may be dealing with burnt wires inside the walls. if there is a suspicion of any burnt wires, they will tear apart your house to find out how bad it goes. This happen to a friend, a one day easy pig-tail job resulted in three weeks and 10,000 worth of repair work.

[mandelbrot]

Thanks guys! This is super useful so far. I just got some feedback from one of my potential electricians who is offering to do some pigtail / wire nut work. I asked him his opinion and thoughts on why he's chosen this method instead of the other options. Take a look here:

"In using Cu/Alr devices, it is recommended that you go through the devices once per year and tighten all the connections.  You still have aluminum, which expands and contracts more than copper, attached to a device.  With use, the connections become loose.  It is a listed install, but requires routine maintenance.  Not a permanent fix.
 
In doing the Copalum style, you have to be certified to use their tool or at least be with a certified installer assisting.  The method is the same as the wire nuts.  It just uses a different connector.  The only companies I know that are certified to do it in Austin are AC Electric  (my former employer) and Fox Electric.  So I have used both methods.  I have never had problems with either.  Just a different style with different costs.  I, too, have found the websites that praise and knock the different methods.  At the end of the day, all three are listed installs with aluminum wiring.  The pig tailing being the best permanent fix aside from rewiring."

That seems pretty compelling, no? Kendallf, can you respond to his notes on CO/ALR devices? Seems from his description that wire nuts seem like a safe way forward.

Here's my question to you regarding your comment on checking aluminum wiring regularly ... how do you keep tabs on this? I do understand at minimum that increased heating at a junction or terminal point means that the Al is at risk of expansion-related movement, and that's the precursor to gaps which eventually could cause an arc -- right? So how often do you inspect? How easy is it to get by this way?

I'm assuming that regardless of whatever fix I go forward with, based on what I've heard from the electrician above and from you here, I'll need to do routine checkups. Maybe once a month? I don't know how long of timeframes these kinds of threats develop.

In any case, this is helpful. Any more thoughts related to the OP or the quoted text above would be great. Thanks again.

[George_PA]

If you are up for the effort, why not just bust up the drywood before you move your furniture in and replace it with copper wire?  This would probably increase the value of the house;

if you don't want to do this they make special outlets and switches for aluminum wire although they cost a lot more;

Preferably, study up on it by visiting the library (it appears that you have already done a lot this), learn a new skill or two, and remove the stigma from this house and get yourself some modern wiring.