Vent: I found out this old house's aluminum wiring was never properly pigtailed after 40 years

Pulled a switch out in a 1980s ranch over near Oak Park and every single splice was still copper-to-aluminum with no anti-oxidant, and the wire nuts were falling off, so how many of you actually run into this on renos?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly_henderson861mo ago

Ngl, that's just standard boomer handyman special at this point.

grantadams1mo ago

Hate how true that is. My grandpa's "repairs" always involved duct tape and praying. Half the time it worked, but the other half you'd find a screwdriver holding up the fridge door. Drives me nuts people still call it a "special" like it's charming. Nah, it's just lazy.

simon7171mo ago

Copper to aluminum direct contact without any compound, that's just asking for a fire. Those old wire nuts probably crumbled to dust if you tried to touch them, sounds exactly like what I dealt with in my place. Best move I made was buying a tube of Noalox and some purple wire nuts made for aluminum wire. Wiped each wire clean with a wire brush first, slathered on the compound, and twisted them down tight with the correct connectors. Took a weekend but haven't touched those boxes since, peace of mind was worth the elbow grease.

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