4 ms·

Yeah, it's great for long haul like high tension wires, not so great for houses and electromechanical contrivances. Prone to oxidation/corrosion, so you have to

by kortex 5y ago

Yeah, it's great for long haul like high tension wires, not so great for houses and electromechanical contrivances. Prone to oxidation/corrosion, so you have to usually use special lugs, or wire nuts filled with this goop. I could be mis-remembering but I also feel like it's more prone to whiskers/pest when soldered to boards, especially lead-free mixes. Either way, ends have to be crimped, so that's more steps. Just generally more annoying and expensive to work with than copper.

Robotbeat 5y ago
Whiskers are due to tin, not aluminum. Aluminum for wiring works just fine if properly engineered and can be cheaper once that engineering is amortized.
- EricE 5y ago
  Yes but if not properly installed it's far more prone to overheating from oxidation. Heat can often = fires. I would never buy a house with aluminum wiring for anything other than service cable or wiring to 220V appliances. I've seen too many homes with aluminum wiring where plugs, light switches or fixtures were swapped out for fixtures that were not rated for use with aluminum wiring. I picked up a FLIR camera that attached to my iPhone - was at a friends house that had aluminum wiring. Was screwing around with the camera and noticed some hot spots on some walls - looked closer and they were outlets. Felt the outlet and it was warm to the touch. Killed power to the circuit, popped the outlet out of the wall and the terminals were crispy critters! Freaked my friend out a little - swept the rest of the house and ended up replacing a dozen outlets, a handful of switches and checking every ceiling and wall mounted fixture. What a nightmare - many of the hot products showed obvious signs of overheating. If handled properly aluminum wiring can be effective. The problem is it's often not handled correctly :(
- kortex 5y ago
  Oh yup, that was tin pest and tin whiskers that I think I was thinking of. My understanding is that Al wiring can be cheaper, but specifically in the housing domain, because virtually every fixture is copper based, it ends up being a huge PITA.

by kortex 5y ago

Robotbeat 5y ago

Whiskers are due to tin, not aluminum. Aluminum for wiring works just fine if properly engineered and can be cheaper once that engineering is amortized.

EricE 5y ago
Yes but if not properly installed it's far more prone to overheating from oxidation. Heat can often = fires. I would never buy a house with aluminum wiring for anything other than service cable or wiring to 220V appliances. I've seen too many homes with aluminum wiring where plugs, light switches or fixtures were swapped out for fixtures that were not rated for use with aluminum wiring. I picked up a FLIR camera that attached to my iPhone - was at a friends house that had aluminum wiring. Was screwing around with the camera and noticed some hot spots on some walls - looked closer and they were outlets. Felt the outlet and it was warm to the touch. Killed power to the circuit, popped the outlet out of the wall and the terminals were crispy critters! Freaked my friend out a little - swept the rest of the house and ended up replacing a dozen outlets, a handful of switches and checking every ceiling and wall mounted fixture. What a nightmare - many of the hot products showed obvious signs of overheating. If handled properly aluminum wiring can be effective. The problem is it's often not handled correctly :(
kortex 5y ago
Oh yup, that was tin pest and tin whiskers that I think I was thinking of. My understanding is that Al wiring can be cheaper, but specifically in the housing domain, because virtually every fixture is copper based, it ends up being a huge PITA.