puzzle AL


  #1  
Old 12-19-07, 12:28 AM
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puzzle AL

I have a problem. AL wiring. Hard to explain. Hot/Ground reversal on 3 light tester only when load applied(good until then) . Complete power loss for even a clock radio. orked good for several months. Once it goes bad even upstream receptacles go same, hot/ground reversal. Sometimes say no ground. I am using AL cert outlets and Almunicon connectors. 4 12-2's into a box. 2 light/Fan not connected,down stream circuit, and the load wires. Can't figure it out.

didmo
 
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Old 12-19-07, 04:02 AM
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You have an open neutral. Look for a disconnected neutral wire at come location on the circuit. It could be a working location or a non-working one, so check every location on the circuit.
 
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Old 12-19-07, 06:18 AM
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If every loaction is dead it could be in the panel as well. If any of the connections are using back stabs move them to the screws and make sure the devices are rated for AL connections.
Yes they did back stabs that were rated for aluminum at one time.
 
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Old 12-19-07, 06:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Av8tor
I have a problem. AL wiring. Hard to explain. Hot/Ground reversal on 3 light tester only when load applied(good until then) . Complete power loss for even a clock radio. orked good for several months. Once it goes bad even upstream receptacles go same, hot/ground reversal. Sometimes say no ground. I am using AL cert outlets and Almunicon connectors. 4 12-2's into a box. 2 light/Fan not connected,down stream circuit, and the load wires. Can't figure it out.

didmo
Welcome to hell

the few year we installed aluminum wiring in residential track housing (70's) have been nightmares for those homeowners.

aluminum wire heats up expanse then shrinks as it cools. then heats up and shrinks. so every termination point where you mechanically splice then wire nut will eventually loosen up.

The first thing to do is go to the main breaker panel and tighten all neutral and ground wires on the buss. I'd go over every screw/terminal and re-torq... even the service wires.


see if that clears it up. if not

recepticles, lights, switches, all need to be checked
so you have to start checking all the neutrals that have been spliced in the boxes. While you at it tighten all the splices up with a pair of lineman side cutters as you go along.
 
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Old 12-19-07, 07:59 AM
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Hell it is. Well I guess I will start at the beginning looking for a loose neutral and anything else to see if I can find the problem. I made sure every receptacle was AL compliant even replacing the ones that I was sure on. Will let you know how it comes out.
 
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Old 12-25-07, 06:32 PM
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First receptacle I checked had less than tight connections. No signs of damaged to wires or lugs, so just tightened them up and that did the trick. I still went on down the line and checked them all but that seemed to do the trick. Thanks for the help.
 
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Old 12-25-07, 06:37 PM
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It is a known "qwirk" of simple outlet testers that an open neutral may be shown as hot/ground reverse. Since it would require an incredible lack of attention to actually reverse hot and ground, I always suspect open neutral first.
 
 

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