Aluminium twin and earth
- Thread starter burntwire
- Start date
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Really?
Are you sure what it looks like?
Many, mostly, AFAIK, wrt terminations and its basic nature being pretty friable.
Yes, and not at all widely. Without any claim of accuracy, I don't think it made much of an impact in the UK.
1) Are you sure it was aluminium?
2) What work did you do, and did you do it in accordance of what should be done with aluminium cables?
Let's make this easy.
The cable you have seen is 'tinned copper', common up to around the early 60s I suppose.
Nothing wrong with it, except quite old now.
The cable you have seen is 'tinned copper', common up to around the early 60s I suppose.
Nothing wrong with it, except quite old now.
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I do remember the time when we had some major problems with South Africa Ian Smith I seem to remember and Magi Thatcher.
At that time there were Ali cables used as copper was just not available and it caused huge problems. At that time 1970's I was an auto electrician and we had cables explode goodness knows what happened with low voltage. Everything crimped as solder was impossible.
Table 52.3 - Minimum cross-sectional area of conductors.
Give a minimum size of 16mm for Aluminium so today it is only used for very large cables and there are special tools for forming the ends.
There were some distribution units with copper coated aluminium buss bars which also caused problems as the aluminium would reduce in thickness when repeated heated and cooled and all the bolts would come lose. So maintenance was also a problem.
At that time there were Ali cables used as copper was just not available and it caused huge problems. At that time 1970's I was an auto electrician and we had cables explode goodness knows what happened with low voltage. Everything crimped as solder was impossible.
Table 52.3 - Minimum cross-sectional area of conductors.
Give a minimum size of 16mm for Aluminium so today it is only used for very large cables and there are special tools for forming the ends.
There were some distribution units with copper coated aluminium buss bars which also caused problems as the aluminium would reduce in thickness when repeated heated and cooled and all the bolts would come lose. So maintenance was also a problem.
I removed this from my house the other day (it wasn't in service, had just been left in place by the sparks that rewired 10 years ago.
Hard to show from the pictures but it's not tinned copper, it's aluminium (see the diagonal cut across the live core
Thanks everybody,
Yes it was definately aluminium cable as in iggifer's picture, definately not tinned copper which I have seen many times.
I had to replace the main rcd switch as it had burnt out due to - I imagine a loose connection on the neutral busbar.
I also had to reterminate a socket which had been over tightened, leaving the cables too short after snapping off.
My dad told me that sometime in the 70's that a -'copper crisis' also led to problems with copper pipe, I guess it was all around the same point in time.
Yes it was definately aluminium cable as in iggifer's picture, definately not tinned copper which I have seen many times.
I had to replace the main rcd switch as it had burnt out due to - I imagine a loose connection on the neutral busbar.
I also had to reterminate a socket which had been over tightened, leaving the cables too short after snapping off.
My dad told me that sometime in the 70's that a -'copper crisis' also led to problems with copper pipe, I guess it was all around the same point in time.
All my years in this job and I've still never found any aluminium T&E.
I've worked on aluminium SWA, and I've seen aluminium MIMS cable.
I've worked on aluminium SWA, and I've seen aluminium MIMS cable.
Called alumicc, I understand (even though alumims would make more sense, but doens't have the same ring to it), always had a grey pvc sheath when I saw it, dunno if it was ever made with red or orange, etc?
Ive seen the Aluminimum Pyro cable and removed it a few times from lighting installations in subways from around the 1970s at a rough guestimate
Jointed and terminated some 4core 95mm ALU SWA recently. Any cable 70mm or larger is specified as aluminium with a particular customer of ours.
I have come across some aluminium T+E only the once, and only a short while ago. It was during an EICR. Very soft, and pendent screws sever it easily.
I have come across some aluminium T+E only the once, and only a short while ago. It was during an EICR. Very soft, and pendent screws sever it easily.
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All my years in this job and I've still never found any aluminium T&E.
I've worked on aluminium SWA, and I've seen aluminium MIMS cable.
I came across loads on council estates in certain areas of Manchester in the late 80's / early 90's.
Not seen it since, though.
What makes you think it's not copper is that the larger sizes seem physically huge!
The equivalent of 6 milli copper in aluminium looked more like 10 milli copper.
Same thing happened with phone cables as well.
At my last job, we went through a period with lots of problems at one site - 6 phone lines, fax line, couple of data lines, which would randomly fail. After a few faults were fixed, BT (this was pre-Openreach) told us that they had a problem length of aluminium cable which they were going to replace. After that, no more problems.
Based on the age of the building, I'd have said 70's for when the cable went in.
It's fine as long as it stays gastight. Once a joint (or indeed, the sheath) ceases to be gastight then it corrodes into fine white powder (just like Land Rover owners are familiar with !)
At my last job, we went through a period with lots of problems at one site - 6 phone lines, fax line, couple of data lines, which would randomly fail. After a few faults were fixed, BT (this was pre-Openreach) told us that they had a problem length of aluminium cable which they were going to replace. After that, no more problems.
Based on the age of the building, I'd have said 70's for when the cable went in.
It's fine as long as it stays gastight. Once a joint (or indeed, the sheath) ceases to be gastight then it corrodes into fine white powder (just like Land Rover owners are familiar with !)
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