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Aluminium T+E? (Read 3269 times)
Natedog
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Aluminium T+E?
Jan 6th, 2021, 5:42pm
 
So while I've been buggering about in the loft I found what should be in a junction box but is just a bit of choc block vaguely covered in tape.  I've got some junction boxes left over, so I'll do that before I manage to zap myself.

Some of the cables snap very easily and are a silvery colour, not copper.  I'd guess aluminium?  Never seen that before.
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Natedog
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #1 - Jan 6th, 2021, 5:43pm
 
Image 9

Don't know if you can see it there, but its the best I could do with my phone
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Lectrician
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #2 - Jan 6th, 2021, 7:28pm
 
Looks like it.  Quite rare, used briefly for a very short period.  I’ve seen a few lighting circuits in it, never sockets.  I’ve also seen copper clad aluminium.  Looks like copper, but snaps easily.
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Natedog
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #3 - Jan 6th, 2021, 7:31pm
 
When I was a kid, I vaguely remember there being copper pipe called something like red stripe.  It was extra thin due to metal shortages and you could only fit soldered connectors to it, if you tried bending it or using compression fittings it was so thin it would just collapse.

Would this be from the same sort of time? Or is it just cheap crap? 😆
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Natedog
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Swindon, United Kingdom
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #4 - Jan 6th, 2021, 7:35pm
 
Oh, and would i be right in thinking that the smart money is on ripping ut out and replacing it with new?
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thescruff
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #5 - Jan 7th, 2021, 12:01am
 
Are you sure the ends haven't been soldered? quite common with copper wire
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woodsmith
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #6 - Jan 7th, 2021, 12:59am
 
Is the house late 60s early 70s? That’s when there was a copper shortage and aluminium was sometimes used. I worked for BT at the time and we used aluminium for a while, it was rubbish and we soon went back to copper.
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Natedog
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Swindon, United Kingdom
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #7 - Jan 7th, 2021, 9:10am
 
woodsmith wrote on Jan 7th, 2021, 12:59am:
Is the house late 60s early 70s? That’s when there was a copper shortage and aluminium was sometimes used. I worked for BT at the time and we used aluminium for a while, it was rubbish and we soon went back to copper.


1930.  Originally didn't have electricity when it was built.  Some of the old lead gas pipe for the lighting is still in place downstairs (i must get that pulled out and weighed in!)

It was originally wired with the multi-stranded cable, so I knownits not the original installationg.  There are at least 2 bits of major work that I know of since, easily identified by the workmanship.  The extension was built and some rewiring done downstairs by my late father-in-law.  All of this is very neatly laid out, every cable identified as to what it does and where it runs to.  Then there's the upstairs lighting which mostly looks like its the same cable as that pictured.  I don't known when that was done though.  The words "rats nest" spring to mind 😬
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Natedog
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Re: Aluminium T+E?
Reply #8 - Jan 7th, 2021, 9:11am
 
thescruff wrote on Jan 7th, 2021, 12:01am:
Are you sure the ends haven't been soldered? quite common with copper wire


Silver all the way through and very brittle where it has been in the choc block
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