My house was built in 1970 with the kind of Al wire that starts fires. I had a couple of new copper branch circuits pulled from the electrical box when we remodeled the kitchen and MBA, but most of the house is still Al. I've been slowly but steadily replacing outlets and switches with AL/CU rating, and meticulously pigtailing junctions using the purple nuts (required by the city inspector) and careful prep procedure outlined in
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum/alreduce.htm

I also had a new 150A box installed to replace the existing dangerous Federal box and breakers (they're also good fire-starters!). I wasn't offered AFCI's, however, which I would have paid for had I known they existed.

Some of the lights have intermittently been dimming and sizzling for a month, and I finally found the culprit: a junction of 2 copper and 2 aluminum wires that the electrician had made. Most of the purple nut and about 1" of insulation on each wire had burnt away and the whole thing was ready to torch my house! Other connections in that outlet box showed that the electrician had not abraded and twisted the wires as recommended in the website above.

I am now redoing as many of the electrician's junctions as I can find, but now that I know about AFCI's, I'd like to protect my house.

FINALLY my question: Can I hire someone to install one 150A main AFCI breaker? Would it properly protect my whole house? Are electrical boxes set up for a main breaker like this? (my new box is a Siemens). I assume this would cost much less than re-replacing the 2 dozen branch breakers (at almost $1k over what I already spent on the new box),

Given the high stakes (the lives of my home and family), I'd appreciate replies only from knowledgeable Al wiring experts!

Thanks!

 

The bigger question is if you can find a 150 amp AFCI breaker suitable for use as service equipment. Probably not.

 

Darn, I just assumed that AFCI breakers came in all sizes. A quick look at Siemens and Cutler-Hammer on line catalogs shows only 15 and 20A.

Should have looked first

 

Marcusl, you say you are using the purple wire nut. If you are talking about the Ideal #65 purple wirenut please read carefully and completely the link you provided in above post. This is not the wire nut you want to use. The procedure is ok though not the best but the wirenut is wrong if Ideal #65. This wire nut has a flammable shell and is filled with a flammable anti-oxident. At one time they thought this wire nut was ok but have since changed and it is no longer a viable wire nut for aluminum to aluminun or aluminum to copper junctions. If inspector wants the Ideal # 65 I guess thats what you must do however I would bring his attention to the link you provide above........RL