Stove and fridge aluminum wiring extending with copper...

[Howie]

Our house's main electrical wiring is aluminium. I have moved both our stove and fridge plugs because we wanted them in reverse order. I kept the old fridge and stove boxes and just extended the wiring, with copper to the new plug locations. For the fridge wiring junction, I used copper-aluminium rated marrettes, as well as copious amounts the anti-oxidising paste. For the stove copper-aluminium wiring junction (8-3 wiring for the copper extension piece, I think the aluminium is 6-3), I used big blue marrettes that are aluminium (as told be by the surplus store salesmen I bought them from). I could not find any copper-aluminium marrettes that were big enough for the stove junction. I also used copious amounts of anti-oxidising paste. I twisted each wire of each join in both the fridge and stove splice really well with a pliers. I covered both of the junction boxes with a steel plate so it is accessible. I hooked up the stove and fridge plug in their new plug boxes. Works great!

Is this the way it should have been done?

any comments / suggestions / advice / tips / ideas?

[Matt]

Just one:

Make sure your smoke detectors are working!

:)

[Howie]

they are... why?

[Matt]

Aw man, I dunno. But when it comes to electric, I'm perhaps overly paranoid. Especially heavy loads, like a fridge and a stove. Me, personally, I don't know if what you did is safe; but I get a bad case of the heebie jeebies just thinking about a 240v feed line spliced in a junction box - even if it was copper to copper. Copper to Aluminum just scares me that much more.

Like I said, I don't know if you have anything to worry about or not. But I would advise that if you ever sell the house, to put things back the way they were.......

[Howie]

Switching them back is not an option, we are installing new cabinets and a "over the range" microwave.

[Matt]

Ah... well there are lots of folks here more qualified than me to comment on this. I was just thinking that what you did may open you to some future liability if something does go wrong if/when/after you sold the house.

[RBM]

[Howie]

so you had no problems... anyone else have comments?

[Greg]

The real answer for big wires is dual cavity split bolts, listed CU/AL.

[Howie]

where do I find these? online?

[AZGuy]

The final connection at the stove/oven is just a junction box too and is often a wire nut connection. I don't see any problem with what he's done.

-- Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House of Representatives, August 17, 1789

[com]

Yeah, but replacing the wiring all the way back to the main panel IS an option. If the 120v line goes to other fixtures, cap it off and run a new line.

By the way, what the heck are marrettes? Do you mean wirenuts, or what?

[Howie]

[HorneTD]

Here is a page of pictures of split bolt connectors. The ones that are silver and have a divider plate through the middle are suitable for splicing or tapping dissimilar metal conductors. They come in a range of sizes. They are insulated after installation using listed electrical tape or mastic pads. They are bulkier than wire nuts but they are listed by electrical testing laboratories for the thing you are doing. Splices made with those should outlast the building.

-- Tom H

[HorneTD]

Here is a better picture of an aluminum split bolt connector that is listed as suitable for copper to aluminum conections.

Tom H