Watched a coworker wire a whole house with aluminum and call it 'progress'

I was on a job last Thursday and saw an old foreman I used to work with on a new build. He told me he's been running aluminum branch circuits on everything since 2021 to save money on copper. I looked in one junction box and the connections weren't even anti-oxidant pasted. I asked him about it and he just laughed and said 'it'll hold for 10 years easy.' Has anyone else seen guys cutting corners like this lately? How do you even reason with someone who thinks that's fine?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopherwilliams1mo ago

Wait, did you actually see any copper/aluminum transitions in that box, or was he running aluminum to the devices and breakers direct? I've heard guys say that 'anti-ox doesn't matter on modern breakers' but I've never seen anyone skip it on the actual splices... that's a straight up fire hazard waiting to happen. What did the inspector say when they walked through?

emmafisher1mo ago

@christopherwilliams you nailed it. That box was a disaster waiting to happen, plain and simple. I looked at those splices and my jaw just dropped - no anti-ox, no torque marks on the screws, nothing. The inspector never even caught it because the foreman called them in for a "quick look" before the walls were sealed and they just signed off. It's like these guys think aluminum wire is just cheap copper with better marketing. Whole house with aluminum down to the devices? That's not progress, that's arson with extra steps.

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