One of the downfalls of the internet is 'MISINFORMATION'. One of the good things of the internet is 'INFORMATION AVAILABILITY'. This site is an example of the information that is available. When a person reads information on the net he/she has to be very careful of the reliability of the information. The less experience/time spent doing so is going to make this type of research harder. The reason is there is so much misinformation available.
I have done some extensive research myself, on the internet, about the available methods of splicing copper to aluminum conductors.
I have read a lot of the articles available, including the CPSC report. I have been in contact with the gentleman who invented the Ideal Twister wirenut. I have been in contact with UL, and I performed a 'field test' of my own(however feeble some may think that is). I filmed and documented the test over a 12 hour time period. I read the CPSC report and was at first shocked that Ideal would try to fraud the public, but then I started my 'quest' for the truth of the matter
1. Has anyone who has read the CPSC report researched that report? The report research was not performed by a scientist or an engineer. The timing of the report is very interesting, the report was released in '96, a few months after the Ideal 'Purple' wirenut became available. Most of the research was performed years before the 'Purple' wirenut was available. The pictures of the wirenuts used in the research are not the 'Purple' wirenut.
There are many inconsistencies in the report.
For instance, it mentions the wirenut will catch fire from heat and add to the fire of the contents of the enclosure they are in. That is not true. There is more but I am not going to go over it here.
2. UL has no reported failures of the 'Purple' wirenut in 8 years. They feel as long as the instructions of the Ideal wirenut are followed it is a viable system.
3. The Copalum system is a good system, but also has its share of problems when not performed correctly.
The information that is available can be suspect, but a site like this will usually have someone to counter the information that is being reported. So what is one to do? Use common sense when you are not sure and keep on looking for the answer, you are bound to find the correct answer at some point. PERSEVERENCE!
As far as rewiring a house with Aluminum wiring, I have three approaches, of which installed correctly are all fine. BTW - the aluminum conductors are not so much the problem as is the connection of the aluminum to conductors or terminals. But for arguments sake there are plenty of copper terminations that also fail.
1. If the budget of the customer can afford to rewire, I rewire.
2. If the budget is not able to afford the rewire, then I will suggest the Copalum or wirenut installation. This is safer than leaving the Aluminum terminations as they are.
The one downfall of the Copalum installation that sticks out is this: If additional work is needed to be performed after the initial installation and there is no one available to perform the Copalum (you lease their equipment and have to take their class to be able to install Copalum), Then some other method has to be installed.
The fire mentioned in the post is a terrible tragedy, but there are also many copper tragedies similar to this.
I try to be unbiased in my research and will sometimes take a stance most people do not agree with. This is just my opinion and I am sure that some will disagree. That is actually good, we need to hash out the 'gray' points of this industry to help fine tune it. That is what makes this fun!
aldav53 if you are unsure of doing this installation, the best thing to do is not perform it. You sound like a concerned contractor who wants to do the right thing, so I bet you would do a fine job. One thing to remember is the liability of this type of work is greater, so the cost should reflect this.
I have physically inspected Copalum and the Purple wirenut installations and I believe that if instructions are followed that either system will perform fine.
Properly reskinning the Aluminum wire is very important, regardless of which method you use. Also check for the proper size conductor.
BTW- I have made approximately 90,000 Aluminum to copper splices.
Good Luck
Pierre
