John Kogel Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 The house dates back to the mid 50's, but there are no two prong outlets anywhere. What is there is Al branch circuits, which I wasn't expecting to see. The hip roof and stucco fits the age, so I think the ungrounded wiring was replaced with solid Al branch circuits in the mid 60's. The Al conductors have silver cloth jackets. Yes, I know it is an old Federal Pacific piece of crap panel. Mr Handyman has added a #14 gauge copper neutral under the same screw as a #12 gauge Al neutral. Brilliant. It's a little reminder to expect the unexpected. Click to Enlarge 72.44 KB Click to Enlarge 61.57 KB Click to Enlarge 77.41 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Are you positive it wasn't tin coated copper instead of AL? Tin coated copper would fit the mid 50's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Look closely at the cut ends - clearly solid AL (nice clear pics btw). The shiny silver cloth jacket gives it away too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have to admit, every time I've found tin coated copper it had cloth conductor insulation rather than plastic as shown in John's pictures. What about the jackets on tinned copper, that's usually metal armor, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have to admit, every time I've found tin coated copper it had cloth conductor insulation rather than plastic as shown in John's pictures. What about the jackets on tinned copper, that's usually metal armor, correct? The tinning was put there to prevent the copper from being in contact with the old rubber insulation, which would have reacted with copper. You'll find tin coating on any old copper wiring that had rubber insulation, including those that were assembled with metal jackets and cloth jackets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Port Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have never seen any AL NM cable for branch circuits that did not have plastic sheathing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have never seen any AL NM cable for branch circuits that did not have plastic sheathing. That's sort of what threw me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Look closely at the cut ends - clearly solid AL (nice clear pics btw). The shiny silver cloth jacket gives it away too. I agree the cut cross section of the conductor can be a conclusive way to identify AL branch. However, when it comes to the shiny silver jacket, that can go either way. The pic below is cables in my house. The 12/2 in the shiny silver cloth jacket is copper all the way. Either way, prior to this thread, I would not have expected to find AL conductors inside a cloth jacket. All that I have found were plastic insulators plastic jackets. Download Attachment: P1230904.JPG 1600.14 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have never seen any AL NM cable for branch circuits that did not have plastic sheathing. Of course, now, you can't say that anymore. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted March 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2012 I couldn't find any labeling on the silver jackets around the panel, but I did catch it by accident up in the attic. Dusty air was pouring up thru this gap between the batts. Click to Enlarge 46.03?KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Hansen Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 We had a very similar aluminum cable in the mid-1960's that was made by Kaiser. The outer sheathing was a plasticized fiber of some sort, kind of a stepping stone between the old rag-wrap copper NM and the PVC sheathing of the late 60s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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