My Wall Caught On Fire!---A Classic *Mangia*

[Aignam]

Hm. ::calls an electrician:: Thanks for your help everyone.

[Aignam]

So I limited the outlet to one computer and tried my best to reduce strain on the wiring until the problem is dealt with. Furthermore, I wrote a summary of the problem and solution for my father to read. That should prompt him to take action.

ALUMINUM WIRING IS A HAZARD

Background:
On April, 28, 1974, two persons died in a home fire in Hampton Bays, New York. Fire officials determined that the fire was caused by a faulty aluminum wire connection at an outlet.

The Problem:
During the 1970's, aluminum (instead of copper) wiring became quite popular and was extensively used. Since that time, aluminum wiring has been implicated in a number of house fires, and most jurisdictions no longer permit it in new installations. The main problem with aluminum wiring is a phenomenon known as "cold creep". When aluminum wiring warms up, it expands. When it cools down, it contracts. Unlike copper, when aluminum goes through a number of warm/cool cycles it loses a bit of tightness each time. To make the problem worse, aluminum oxidizes, or corrodes when in contact with certain types of metal, so the resistance of the connection goes up. Which causes it to heat up and corrode/oxidize still more. Eventually the wire may start getting very hot, melt the insulation or fixture it's attached to, and possibly even cause a fire due to carbon buildup. Research sponsored by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shows that homes wired with aluminum wire manufactured before 1972 are 55 times more likely to have one or more connections reach "Fire Hazard Conditions" than are homes wired with copper.

The Solution:
Fortunately, there are two options available for dealing with this impending problem. We can have the aluminum wire rewired entirely, the best, permanent, safe solution that is recommended by most professionals. A cheaper alternative would be to have each wire “pigtailed”, which essentially moves the aluminum connection from the receptacle or switch terminal to a more reliable splice. Pigtailing should remove most of the hazard, but is not a 100% guarantee.

My Input:
I’ve had two problems in my room alone with the aluminum wiring already, and twice a small fire has started in our walls, only to be burned out. How much longer can we tempt this hazard? I don’t want to be responsible for any damage, injury, or god forbid death. I told mom about this, but she shrugged it off, accusing me of trying to waste money. If anything happens, it’s all on you and her, because you’ve been warned. I strongly urge you to have this dealt with by a professional immediately, and every person I’ve talked to about the problem through the course of my research has given me that same exact advice. It may be costly to rewire the house, but I’m sure it’s less costly than rebuilding our house from the pile of ashes in the dirt. Insurance may give you some money, but you know as well as I do that it won’t be near enough to cover everything. At this point you have two choices: 1.Shrug this off and wait for an accident, endangering your family and your possessions. 2.Take action and deal with the issue NOW before it becomes a problem. Questions, comments, queries, need a picture of a fire inside a wall? ASK!

[Mike AA]

Hey Aignam, I was just looking through the Chit-Chat and found this thread. Just wondered how this was coming along. Get it fixed or looked at? if not Then I've got a comment, coming from an electrician ( apprentice with enough hours to really be near master but not enough written down) One major part I can tell you is that having a 20 amp fuse or breaker on a circuit for a bedroom or anything besides your laundry room or kitchen or bathroom receptacles is risk of fire because that wire is normally only good for max 15 amp. Calculating the computer power supplies at 400 watts and drawing 10 amps each is incorrect, the wattage listed is on the secondary, your computers will probably only really draw about 2 amps each if running with the monitor. I did a load test on my system with many other things on the same powerstrip, my amp meter only showed about 2 amp. You could easily run all the items you listed on the circuit and it wouldn't over load it. I run more in my room with no trouble at-all. As everyone else said you MUST get this checked out. It wouldn't take a good electrician much time to rewire this problem. Many electricians will give you a free estimate. You don't necessarily need a "certified" electrician, actually they're called Licensed and thats the only way you can be called an electrician, is if you're licensed, but thats just terminology.

Aluminum wiring is still used today for wiring, It is often used in the main power wires coming into your house. Aluminum does expand and contract but the devices made for use with aluminum wire are designed to compensate and are designed NOT to easily corrode and there is also a DE-OX compound used to prevent corrosion/oxidation.

Pending local codes you could fairly easily rewire the whole room with new boxes, wire and devices (receptacles and switched) for fairly low cost and some little time and effort. Also there is now a device called an Arc-Fault breaker required in many states, if you have breakers installed you can install one of these in place of the breaker feeding your room and if it detects arcing it will shut off before causing trouble.

Didn't mean to be long winded but we fix these problems or problems very similar literally daily.

-Mike