House Inspection

[dreamerjules]

The potential new home was inspected today. I was there throughout the inspection. Most of it seemed either reasonable to deal with or nothing that I could do at all, but would be okay to live with. The one thing that I need to decide about is the wiring. Because the townhouse was built in 1976, the builders used aluminum wiring. To the outlets where lamps and televisions and computer would be plugged in, the aluminum wire has been "pigtailed" to a copper wire which is safer, but doesn't negate the aluminum wire everywhere else.

Anybody with opinions, stories, advice, whatever, please chime in.

Comments

Uninterruptable Power Supply?

[(Anonymous)]

To be honest, I'm not sure what the difference between aluminum and copper electrical wiring is.

If it presents even a remote danger to electronics, you could buy an uninterruptable power supply. It would serve the same purpose as a giant surge protector on steroids. I'm sure you can get them for $70-80 bucks now, so buying four or five would still be fairly inexpensive in the long run.

Re: Uninterruptable Power Supply?

[perspicax.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that was me. I didn't realize I had been logged out. :-)

Re: Uninterruptable Power Supply?

[dreamerjules.livejournal.com]

Okay. Guess I didn't make that clear. Copper wiring the best because copper is an excellent conductor and not as expensive as say silver, gold or platinum which are good conductors as well. Aluminum is not as good for wiring because the thickness of the wire has to be different, larger I believe, in order to conduct the same amount of electricity as copper and aluminum expands and contracts to a greater degree than copper. This is bad because the wire tends to wiggle if you will away from the connection point resulting in an air gap between the wire and the connection resulting in arcing resulting in fire hazard, not just electronics hazard. If it was just an electronics hazard, yes, UPS all the way. It's a safety hazard.

It's not the best possible situation, but it's not a given that the place will go up in flames. The entire complex is probably wired with aluminum since it was built in 1976. There is at least one socket that will have to be replaced.

I'll send you an e-mail later expounding on the inspection.