Oven install - with complications

[wdfifteen]

So - I've been waiting since June for my new wall oven. I ordered one in black and finally in August they said they're having some kind of manufacturing problem with the black and they'll only have stainless steel for an indefinite time. So I talked them into getting me a stainless oven and matching cook top for the price of black. Three weeks ago the distributor called and said my oven is in - but it's black! I've been using the stainless cooktop for two months and I'm not taking it back out. So I waited another three weeks for the stainless oven arrived. I was all set to install it Saturday, had it cribbed up in front of the opening ready to wire it up and slide it in, and discovered that the house wiring is aluminum. I checked the box and it is the only aluminum circuit in the house. I have no idea why. There was no chance of getting any alumiconns on Saturday. I went to the electrical distributors this morning and they wouldn't sell me the connectors because I'm not a licensed electrician. I told them I'm a licensed PE but that didn't impress him at all. I saw an electrician's truck in the driveway of a house that's being built down the street from mine and talked the electrician into coming over and hooking up my oven on his lunch hour. He came over this afternoon and he wanted to use plain old wire nuts on it! I'm not a licensed electrician, just got a plain old PE, but I know better than that. I didn't want to lose the guy so I tried to finessed it so I didn't exactly call him stupid but made it plain I didn't want to do it his way. He said he'd stop by electrical distributor in the morning to get the Alumiconns to do it right. Never had so much trouble getting three little wires connected.

[daepp]

A few questions:

1) What happens if you just use wire nuts?
2) Is aluminum wire aluminum colored?
3) Why would they use it on just one circuit?
4) If you hook it to copper wires in the oven, do you get any kind of corrosion?

Good luck.

[look 171]

corrosion. At one time, they use alum for appliances onlyy. Many of the homes between 65-73 were wired with alum. wires. Remember, you can only bend alum. wires only once or twice. That includes pulling the wires in and out of the J box. Personally, I hate alum. wires. I almost want to say, I will take knob and tube over alum. wires. Try Copalm, but its not my favorite thing to do. Due to liability reasons, I try to shy away from alum wires. No small job involving those type of wires. On a big job, it is in the bid to rip all of that stuff out due to safety and avoiding lawsuits. Most home owners will understand the small price they have to pay to get rid of the alum. wires while everything is ripped out.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by look 171

corrosion. At one time, they use alum for appliances onlyy. Many of the homes between 65-73 were wired with alum. wires. Remember, you can only bend alum. wires only once or twice. That includes pulling the wires in and out of the J box. Personally, I hate alum. wires. I almost want to say, I will take knob and tube over alum. wires. Try Copalm, but its not my favorite thing to do. Due to liability reasons, I try to shy away from alum wires. No small job involving those type of wires. On a big job, it is in the bid to rip all of that stuff out due to safety and avoiding lawsuits. Most home owners will understand the small price they have to pay to get rid of the alum. wires while everything is ripped out.

I was reminiscing about a rental house I own after reading this. We bought it knowing it had aluminum wiring, and also knowing we would have it all torn out after closing. The light switches in the house were sometimes hot to the touch, scary.

[masraum]

Our house has AL wiring. Yes, AL wiring looks like AL.

AL and CU don't play well together. You end up with corrosion between the two which makes the contact suck which makes heat and sparks or if you're lucky, the circuit just stops working until you find and fix the fault.

Yes, I've had circuits stop working. I've also seen sparks shoot out of outlets and wall switches. Scary stuff.

It's my understanding that lots of commercial buildings use AL.

I certainly don't ever want to deal with it again.

[Zeke]

I have examined the wirenuts used for an AL to CU connection. Visually, they have a longer sleeve and are full of anti oxidation compound. In prior circumstances I have used regular wirenuts and the compound for simple pigtailing. The electrical code keeps getting reworked.

[1990C4S]

I did my entire house with regular marretes and No-Alox. No issues ever.

I would remove the aluminum and pull copper in if that is the only circuit.

[VINMAN]

Pat I would definitely replace the AL with new 12ga copper if possible. If its an electric oven, it should have its own separate circuit.

[look 171]

It takes lots of electricity to make heat like an oven or a water heater. Why take a chance with heat.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Pat I would definitely replace the AL with new 12ga copper if possible. If its an electric oven, it should have its own separate circuit.

It might be 10AWG for the oven. Check the manual on this.

[VINMAN]

Yep, definately 10ga for oven circuit. Oven might also be 220

[look 171]

I am almost it is 220

[VINMAN]

I ran 8s for my oven ( had some left over from a job...)

[look 171]

Man, you must like to fight with wires?

[VINMAN]

LOl yeah not that easy to work with. But smaller than alot of the stuff I normaly deal with. Ever try running 750 MCM THW?

[futuresoptions]

ALUMINUM WIRES ARE DANGEROUS!!!! Not for what they are, but because what most people don't know will kill them... Aluminum wiring was used back in the day in a lot of trailer homes... they are not used any more in those applications. If you have a home that has aluminum wiring, you must understand that having the aluminum wiring places you with extra home maintenance that you may not be aware of... Every Spring, you should go through all of your receptacles and make sure that all of the connections are tight. The problem with aluminum wiring is that it expands and contracts as it get hot from use more than its copper cousin. This expansion and contraction tends to make your connections loosen over time. Loose connection / bad connections will cause a circuit to draw more amperage and create heat in some circumstances that lead to fires. So if you do have aluminum wiring and haven't gone through your home and checked your connections, do so before you plug in that space heater this winter. If you own a trailer home with aluminum wiring, I would just burn it down myself... If you have aluminum wiring and the knowledge to do so, I would change it out. But that is just my opinion.... If all I had was one run in the house with aluminum wire and it was going to a high amperage appliance like a stove? That crap would be yanked out with ferocity and changed over to copper... YMMV

[wdfifteen]

I could replace the circuit. It's a dedicated circuit of course, 220 volts with a 40 amp breaker. It would mean cutting out a bunch of drywall and tearing out the cabinets that have just been installed. But if done properly there is no problem with splicing the wires. Aluminconns are approved for splicing aluminum/copper wire. I think it's the only NEC approved permanent repair. It a lug system just like the lugs used to connect the aluminum service cable to the copper house circuit. The aluminum and copper never come in contact with each other. It's an NEC approved method of making the splice. The only problem is it's so darned hard to get your hands on one.

[VINMAN]

I normally try avoid giving anyone electrical advice on here. As an electrician and firefighter, I wouldnt use aluminum. But I'm very biased.