A/C box

[nbhi]

This is from todays inspection. House is wired with aluminum wiring. As you can see from the pics, that the COP ALUM devise is not in place. Also, the cover inside the electrical panel is broken.
When the home owner was asked the question whether or not the house as the proper connections, he said they had replaced several.
Do they make switches and receptacles to accept aluminum wire, or does the installation have to be preformed using the COP ALUM connection?
Should the cover inside the disconnect be in place or a lock put on the cover?

Attachment 19759

Attachment 19760

Thanks

[Greg Fretwell]

The dead front cover is simply broken and needs to be replaced. No other answer. The servicer needs access to that pullout without the fear of contacting the hot lugs. That is the reason you have a disconnect.

If there are no aluminum wires in those red wirenuts you are fine with these connections. "Lug" type terminations were never a problem.

[nbhi]

Greg
There is aluminum wire in those wire connectors. The whole house is aluminum.

[Greg Fretwell]

There is your violation (beyond the broken cover). Red wirenuts, all of them, are only listed copper/copper.

The purple ones are legal but unpopular if you believe "Inspect-NY".

There is a listed split bolt that will work (ugly because you need to tape it up) and you have several lug types these days.
The King Industries Alumiconn is the new one and you have some from Ilsco and Polari$ (Oh my god! expensive) for large wires.

Then if you are doing the whole house you have the proprietary, pay a franchise holder, Copalum system.

[nbhi]

Greg
I suspect that the whole house needs to be evaluated by a license electrician. The home owner said he changed several? Is there devises that would work for aluminum wire, without the use of COP-ALUM connections?

[Jim Port]

There are devices listed for use with AL conductors. The are label CO/ALR. There is no need to pigtail with copper for these devices.

It looks like the low voltage wires may be in the same raceway as the power conductors. It is hard to tell if the cable feeding the AC unit is NM or UF. If it is NM it is improper.

[nbhi]

Jim
The wire feeding the AC unit is NM. Even though it is protected, it still would be wrong and should be flagged?

[jtedesco1]

If these are fuses that will be installed in a fuseholder designed for their use, then these fuseholders may not be of the proper type, or the incorrect fuses were used.

Check Bussmann for the specifications

[Pierre Belarge]

It looks to me as though the wirenuts in the picture are splicing the lowvoltage wiring, not any power conductors.

As far as I am aware, there are no listed wirenuts for Al to Al connections. Up until 1993, the red "Bcaps" were listed for such use, then UL changed the standard.

There are millions of splices of Al using the Bcap wirenut that are still in place and are still in good shape.

Like any other splice, most failures are due to the installer, not the product itself.

[Jim Port]

Originally Posted by nbhi

Jim
The wire feeding the AC unit is NM. Even though it is protected, it still would be wrong and should be flagged?

If the wiring is going from the disconnect to the unit it is wrong if it is NM. NM is not listed for exterior usages and shuold be flagged.. UF could be used as well as single conductors with a W rating like THWN.

[John Allingham]

I hand out this when I inspect a house with aluminum wiring.