Hello,
I'll be buying a new house soon, and would you believe that it's wired in Aluminum? The present owner told me, Oh, I had it pigtailed. I told him, that the Al. is history. The first thing after I open the front door and become a new happy homeowner will be to start to re wire with copper. Should be intresting, but fun, working on my own place.

A new house with aluminum branch circuits?? I've come across a few newer homes where some of the larger stuff (range, sub-panels, etc.) will be wired with aluminum.. But I've yet to see a house newer than the early 80's with aluminum for branch circuit wiring!

-Randy

What I meant was I'll be moving from one house to another. I'm sorry if you thought I meant Brand new. This new house was built in 1974.

Seems like 30-year old aluminum branch-circuit wiring could be a major bargaining chip in price negotiation.

It's also probably the extra-funky "old" 1350-alloy wiring.

It may pay to be triple-extra-cautious about any circuit loading until you knew exactly what to expect in the house.

I'll second that last item. Pigtails or no, you can bet on some loose connections in the branch circuit wiring.

Radar

See the needed reinstallation that way - you can always trust the stuff most that you installed yourself.

I hope it's all conduit...

Please tell me it's conduit...

It should be a lot of fun, to re-wire my own place. I have a son who is a young teenager, and I want to introduce him to the trade. I hope he takes to it, and if not he'll have a good trade to fall back on. It will be a good renovation to start on.

I've heard that there exists a special crimp-on pigtail designed for aluminium wire. Requires a special tool and training. Heard that it works well. Also there's special wirenuts, but have heard that they do not work well at all.

http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm describes it better than I can.

If the alum. wiring was to stay in the walls, like that of a customer, I would use the devices that are designed for Alum. wiring. Switches, and outlets. If I had to extend any conductors for splicing purposes, I would use the approved wirenut with the penetrox inside.