Alluminium wires :0(

[peehead]

Hi all,

It seems I'm on a streak of first times this week.

This morning I went to price up moving sockets in all rooms of house, putting in a new/ extending cooker feed and moving lights. Well.. whilst doing some basic tests and a ze I found myself faced with Aluminium stranded wires, not come across these before but I believe I'm right in saying that it was the thing in the 70's to use.

Had a look in the BGB and can see that ally wires start from 16mm. I'm pretty sure the ring was 4mm ally. I'm also qouting to put in a new CU but I'm not sure where I stand with the ally wires, do I just replace completely (not easier but everything will be up to 17th) t or can you just extend with some crazy calculations.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[babylonsBurning]

Hi Peehead
They are likely to be tinned copper which has the appearance of aluminum.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Leave well alone if your not sure on what your doing :-s.

I think im right in this but they will not be ally cables they will be copper cables with a aluminium coating? one of the lads who worked on these will be able to point you in a better direction than myself.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Hi Peehead
They are likely to be tinned copper which has the appearance of aluminum.

Knew they were coated in something, ripped aload out a few years ago but for the life of me could not remember what the coating was!

 

[peehead]

I did think that so had a few sample cuts and no copper to be found.

 

[telectrix]

Knew they were coated in something, ripped aload out a few years ago but for the life of me could not remember what the coating was!

"tinned" is a clue. derived from the metal tin, chemical symbol Sn. atomic number 50. combines with lead to make solder.

 

[Fox]

Twin flat cable with aluminium conductors are not a recognised cable type and do not have a British Standard covering them. Therefore no current ratings are given in the Wiring Regulations.

Only copper cables for flat twin and earth have been supported within BS7671.

Prior to metrification (pre 1970), copper clad cables were available for a number of years because aluminium was cheaper than copper. However they were soon abandoned because of concerns with conductor corrosion and movement within terminations. The fact that you can't see any copper is probably due to the fact that it has reacted with the aluminium over the years and has corroded ^^^^

 

[peehead]

Right I'll just go in with a qoute to replace the circuits I'll be working on and another if they want to bring the rest of house up to date.

 

[kingeri]

It often breaks off quite easily when trying to terminate it as well.

 

[nickblake]

Right for those that don't know Aluminium conductors were used briefly in the 70's due to world copper shortages , , and was mainly solid conductor , how to tell the difference is they are very soft , they do still comply , and as long as they test out satisfactory it is ok to still use them care should be taken as the can be brittle , how ever the cabling you could be talking about as has been mentioned could be imperial cabling which was in use pre 1970, what should be considered when working with imperial cables is the current carrying capacities and voltage drop as they may well differ from that of todays metric wiring give you some examples 1/0.44inch 13 amps clipped direct metric 0.97mm ,7/0.029 inch 25 amps clipped direct 2.90mm ,3/0.029 inch 16 amps clipped direct 1.29mm etc the first numer of the sizes ie 3/ is the number of strands with the strand size after if that makes any sense

 

[Marvo]

I did think that so had a few sample cuts and no copper to be found.

Maybe post a picture or two but as already pointed out it's a very high chance they're stranded tinned copper

 

[Engineer54]

The only T&E alluminum cables that has been available over the last 50 years or so was the brief era of ''copper clad'' alluminium cables. Only 16mm copper clad cables are now recognised by BS 7671. 4mm was the size used for socket outlets etc and 1.5mm for lighting circuits, all were stranded conductors!! If the cables in question ''look'' like alluminium, the the chances are they are tinned copper, maybe even of the old imperial era if said cable are of the stranded variety. Which by the way are far superior to the metric solid core crap we have today in just about every respect!! lol!!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

The only T&E alluminum cables that has been available over the last 50 years or so was the brief era of ''copper clad'' alluminium cables. Only 16mm copper clad cables are now recognised by BS 7671. 4mm was the size used for socket outlets etc and 1.5mm for lighting circuits, all were stranded conductors!! If the cables in question ''look'' like alluminium, the the chances are they are tinned copper, maybe even of the old imperial era if said cable are of the stranded variety. Which by the way are far superior to the metric solid core crap we have today in just about every respect!! lol!!

Not so,there are both plain aluminium and copper clad aluminium T/E cables installed on a 70's estate near me.See Nickblakes post.

 

[Engineer54]

Not so,there are both plain aluminium and copper clad aluminium T/E cables installed on a 70's estate near me.See Nickblakes post.

Maybe, maybe not, i can only speak as i know, and i've never seen plain Alluminium T&E cable, for the time i've been in this industry, only the copper clad variety, that was around for a very short period of time...

 

[7029 dave]

cant add because its been said (nickblake eng54)