when it comes to house wiring, the first factor to consider is your own safety and those living in the home. In the past, aluminum wires and cables were acceptable and affordable for wiring due to the circumstances but now you probably can not find any newly built house with aluminum wiring. So is it safe to be living in an aluminum-wired house? The response to that question is dependent on a number of distinct aspects, such as whether or not you have any safety solutions installed, the types of fire hazards that are located around your property, and even the types of materials that were used to wire your electrical components. 
Even though houses with aluminum wiring are not nearly as common as they used to be, there is still a great deal of debate surrounding them in the fields of architecture and home improvement. Aluminum wires have been linked to a wide variety of electrical fires and damage over the course of several decades; some of these incidents have even resulted in the loss of life among homeowners. Despite all of this, there are still many applications in which aluminum has a significant amount of value. As an illustration, the component can be found in the majority of high-voltage power lines as well as airplanes. Under these conditions, aluminum has demonstrated that it is not only risk-free but also more effective than the traditional copper wire. The question that needs to be answered is what exactly makes residential aluminum wiring in the typical home so dangerous. The Issue with Aluminum Wiring Used in Residential Construction in Homes Around two million homes in the United States of America today have had their electrical systems restored, renovated, or built using electrical circuits that feature aluminum wiring, as indicated by the data that was recorded by the consumer product safety commission. According to industry experts, unless each and every feasible safety measure was taken, the light switches, outlets, and junction boxes in these aluminum wire homes could potentially represent a fire hazard waiting to happen. If aluminum is indeed so hazardous, the question arises as to why construction workers ever chose to work with it in the first place. The most straightforward response to this question is that the vast majority of businesses were simply unaware of the potential dangers posed by aluminum until around the 1960s and 1970s, when reports of fires and electrical malfunctions first started to emerge. Aluminum wiring came to be used because it offered cost savings, and many manufacturers came to believe that the material was very efficient at both distributing and transmitting electrical current. It is not surprising that knowledgeable people would prefer to work with aluminum rather than copper. 
Because the material is not only cheaper, but also lighter and stronger, it resulted in cables that were less prone to droop than they would have been otherwise. Aluminum is also much better for the environment because it is simple to recycle and does not have the same toxicity issues that smoking copper wire does. Unfortunately, aluminum began to swiftly display its faults in both commercial and residential structures almost immediately after it was used. This type of wire is very prone to coming loose from the screws that are used to secure it in electrical outlets, lights, and switches, which results in poor connections. When the connection isn't as robust as it should be, the wire starts to deteriorate, which in turn causes the aluminum to oxidize, which generates even more heat, which in turn can cause a fire. Inadequate repairs to household aluminum wiring can make the problem even more severe; for example, when electricians try to join copper and aluminum wire using twist-on connectors, this can make the problem even more difficult to fix. Even connectors that were developed specifically for use with copper and aluminum cabling could pose a risk in this scenario. The Results of the Test Comparing Copper and Aluminum are in! Copper may be superior to aluminum in terms of its strength and weight, but aluminum just cannot compete with copper when it comes to providing assurance and protecting property. Problems began to arise not long after aluminum wiring began to gain popularity in the building industry. This trend began around the same time. These problems included everything from lights that flickered to switches that were heated to insulation on the wiring that had burned. In the end, the specialists were forced to acknowledge the existence of a problem with the temperature being too high. When experts began to compare the characteristics of copper and aluminum wiring, they discovered three separate factors that could be contributing to the risks associated with aluminum wiring. 
These factors are as follows: Aluminum is a softer metal than copper, making it more malleable. When establishing connections for residential and commercial properties, electricians who were accustomed to dealing only with copper discovered that aluminum wiring was often far simpler to cut and nick than copper wiring. Unfortunately, a damaged wire increases the likelihood of local hot spots as well as the possibility of the entire system overheating. Another issue, known as "slow creeping," was found with aluminum wires, and it was named "creeping." Aluminum wire is far more likely to expand than copper wire when it comes to heating since aluminum is a better conductor of heat than copper is. When electricity moves through a wire, the conductive component begins to heat up. The wire was able to dislodge itself from the screws that were holding it in place because it underwent repeated cycles of contracting and expanding as the temperature of the wire changed. Over time, the aluminum wire started to overheat and develop loose connections, both of which were symptoms of the problem. Rusting: When metals start to rust, they develop a substance known as "oxide" on their surface, which manifests as a sort of corrosion. Rusting is a type of chemical reaction. The rust that forms on copper is a green color, but the rust that forms on aluminum is white. Aluminum rust is considerably more problematic due to the fact that white oxide is not a good electrical conductor, and it can interfere with the flow of electricity. Copper rust, on the other hand, is not a significant issue due to the fact that the oxide is electrically conductive. Because of the challenges associated with aluminum wire, government authorities all over the world have been pressured to make adjustments to building rules in order to encourage the use of copper wiring in contemporary buildings. However, if your home is old enough, there is a significant probability that it still contains aluminum wire somewhere within it. This is especially true if your home was built before 1970. 
Does the Wiring in Your Home Consist of Aluminum? As soon as you are aware of the risks associated with aluminum wire, there is a strong probability that you will want to investigate whether or not it is present in your residence. If your home's construction dates fall anywhere between 1965 and 1973, the majority of building records indicate that there is a good chance that you have some domestic aluminum wiring installed in your home. You can acquire the answer to this question definitively by talking to either your real estate agent or the developer, provided that you know how to get in touch with either of them. The majority of these professionals will have files and documentation that are specific to the kind of electrical installation that is currently present on your house. You may also check yourself by checking at the wiring that is located between the floor joists in the basement or in the attic. This is something you can do if you are either curious or feeling frightened about the potential dangers of aluminum. In addition to that, you can inspect the wiring in your home by going to the service panel. If your wire was placed before 1977, the term "ALUM" or "AL" will be marked on the covering of the outer cable approximately once per twelve inches if it is aluminum-based. On the other hand, if your wire was placed after May 1977, you can find markings that look like Aluminum ACM, Alum ACM, or AL ACM. These are all variations of the same acronym. How to Protect Yourself from the Dangers of Aluminum Do not let your anxiety get the best of you if you believe that the wiring in your home is made of residential aluminum. There is still plenty of time to begin addressing the issue, provided that you have not witnessed your electrical outlet smoking or have observed the symptoms of any other overheating-related issues. It is a common misunderstanding in the industry that aluminum wiring cannot be used, however contrary to popular belief, this is not the case. 
The only real distinction is that certain house insurance companies will require you to receive a certificate from an electrical authority before they will insure your home. This is the only real difference. Aluminum is well-known for its ability to ignite fires, therefore it is only natural that you would want to remove it from your home as quickly as is humanly possible given this property trait. Each connection in a home that contains aluminum is a potential risk for a fire, and the typical home has more than 200 of these connections. If you have aluminum residential wiring in your home, you need to be on the lookout for a variety of symptoms that could signal the development of a problem that has been concealed from view. These signs include the following:
- Static electricity can be found in electronic devices such as televisions, radios, and computers.
- Frequently blowing fuses and/or circuit breakers.
- When electrical appliances are connected in the home, there may be sparks or smoke.
- The hue of electrical outlets and switches is changing, and they are also growing warm.
- There does not appear to be a logical explanation for why the lights are flickering.
What are some ways that you can keep your house secure? Carbon buildup, excessive heating, and ultimate fires are the end results of using aluminum wire in a property, and this typically occurs around the connections. When these fittings become loose, aluminum wire can cause overheating, which can lead to fires. It's possible that your wiring won't catch fire for several years since the insulation on the wires is slowly burning away, but when it does, it will be too late. Because of this, it is essential that you do not automatically assume that your cables are in good condition simply because you have not experienced any issues in the past. To ensure that your system is risk-free, it is essential to have a professional do an in-depth inspection of it. 
A comprehensive examination will involve an inspection of all of the connections in all of the breaker panels, as well as the connections at each outlet throughout your home. The process may be time-consuming, but it is well worth it if it may lessen the possibility of a fire occurring in your home. When it comes to aluminum wire, a frequent fallacy is that the only way to keep oneself and one's family safe is to replace every instance of aluminum that can be found in one's home. This, however, is not the case. In other circumstances, this may be a bit of an overreaction, as it is possible that all that has to be done is to change the connections in the areas where aluminum has been used. Your choices will include the following with the assistance of a qualified electrician: A whole rewiring of the home is, without a doubt, going to be the most expensive as well as the solution that will last the longest. When you rewire a home, you get rid of all of the aluminum wiring in your property and replace it with copper wire, which lowers the risk of an electrical fire occurring in your home. A copalum is another alternative, in which copper is crimped onto an aluminum pigtail connection so that it can be used with the wiring that is already in place. If you go through and correct every connection in this manner, you might find that this is a long-term solution to your wiring problem. If you haven't had any issues as of yet, you probably won't feel the urgent need to begin making repairs right now. Nevertheless, regardless of which option you choose, it is essential to schedule inspections with a licensed electrician in order to guarantee that your wiring is as risk-free as it can be. It is imperative that you have your home inspected on a routine basis if it has residential aluminum wiring in order to protect both your financial investment and the wellbeing of your family.