aluminum wiring
#1
aluminum wiring
Does anyone know what year the use of aluminum wiring was stopped in the manufacture of mobile homes? We are looking into purchasing a piece of property that has a 1975 double wide on it & want to update it to live in until we can build another home. It is not worth the investment if we need to rewire the whole home.
#3
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Warning - Get it Inspected
Do not assume that it is safe. There is a lot of bad advice about aluminum wiring and there is no way to know what has happened to it over the years without an inspection. Check with your local code enforcement office for the facts. Then get a certified electrician to inspect the mobile home and give you the results in writing. He will want to inspect each wall switch, recepticle, light fixture, etc for loose connections, brittle wires, and burnt insulation. He will also want to inspect that all items are rated for use with aluminum wiring. The old rating for recepticles and switches was AL/Cu and the current one is CO/ALR. AL/CU was discontinued because it had problems. CO/ALR is the only authorized rating now but has to be installed correctly. He will also want to inspect the wire gauge to be sure that it is 12 AWG. 14 AWG is no good and is a deal killer for the sale because replacing wires means tearing into the walls. The rest is easily correctable and just depends on how much it will cost.
For your protection: Make the electrical inspection a condition of purchase and negotiate with the seller on who should pay for it. The seller should be willing to pay for the inspection because it will make it easier to sell. Just point out the doubts that you are having and any other buyer will have. On the other hand, if the seller pays for the inspection he might have a friend do it and the results may be skewed in his favor. If you pay then you can pick the inspector.
And by the way, no pigtails are authorized unless they are done with a special crimper only affordable by an electrician. Do not add anything unless it is rated CO/ALR. The only CO/ALR items I have found are toggle-type light switches and wall recepticles. No dimmer switches.
Go to the following for a ton of good information.
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
Good Luck
For your protection: Make the electrical inspection a condition of purchase and negotiate with the seller on who should pay for it. The seller should be willing to pay for the inspection because it will make it easier to sell. Just point out the doubts that you are having and any other buyer will have. On the other hand, if the seller pays for the inspection he might have a friend do it and the results may be skewed in his favor. If you pay then you can pick the inspector.
And by the way, no pigtails are authorized unless they are done with a special crimper only affordable by an electrician. Do not add anything unless it is rated CO/ALR. The only CO/ALR items I have found are toggle-type light switches and wall recepticles. No dimmer switches.
Go to the following for a ton of good information.
http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
Good Luck