Any electricians? Aluminum stranded wire question

[Ranger619]

Hi,
I have a couple questions for an electrician regarding aluminum stranded wire to a dryer and range in a rental house. If you could please pm me.
Thanks.

 

[Ranger619]

More info. We have a rental house that was built in the early to mid seventies. It has aluminum stranded wire to the range and dryer. Is it worth upgrading the wire to copper? I have read where it is recommended upgrading to copper if it is a 15-20 amp wire but found where the heavier gauge wire is not as problematic. Anyone with real world experience?
Thanks

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Aluminum wire has potential to cause fires. It's not the wire as much as it is the connections. there are connectors that can be added to aluminum so you add a short section of copper wire to make connections. I would change it to copper if at all possible.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Not an electrician and I opted to replace that wire when I was rewiring aluminum home runs in my old house. But I believe being that those typically go to screw clamped termination at each end there is less issue with expansion/contraction loosening.

The main lines into our houses are aluminum for instance but they have securely clamped down connections at each end.

 

[11boo]

It was very common to use that on 30 and 50 amp circuits.
I never did much residential electrical as an electrician, but the big issue was aluminum wire used on 15 and 20 amp circuits, thus it is not allowed any longer on those.
It is allowed still on the 30/50 amp stuff. If it is properly sized for the load and connections are still good and properly torqued it’ll be fine. You would have to pull the receptacles out from behind the dryer and range and inspect to know that. That would also show if there has been any overheating and I would bet they could be tightened a bit more. Some guys liked using an anti oxidation grease on all aluminum connections, but it is only required on the big aluminum panel feeders. Most homes are connected to utility power with aluminum wire.

 

[Ranger619]

Thanks for the info. I will check the connections.

 

[bigunit]

We still often use aluminum for bigger loads like ranges and dryers. There's nothing to be concerned about as long as it was done correctly. It needs to have a corrosion inhibitor on the bare wire and to be tightened down with plenty of torque. It's always a good idea to re-torque after the appliance has been used. While it's de-energized obviously.

 

[TaperPin]

The use of anti ox is standard procedure nowadays - on both ends of the wire (don’t forget to clean and use antiox at the panel).

 

[11boo]

The biggest issue is cramming 50a aluminum wire in the box with a 50a receptacle.

 

[ptpalpha]

The biggest issue is cramming 50a aluminum wire in the box with a 50a receptacle.

There's a fellow sparky.
As others have said, as long as the installation was solid (properly torqued, no-alox or = grease used) you're good to go.