It says "copper only", so is it OK for aluminum?

[Charlie R]

Condo unit in Columbia built 1972, bought and now flipped. When I pointed out the writing on the back of the receptacle, the owner asked the question in the subject line. I said "no." And then "Tell the flipper to get a licensed electrician in before he burns the condo building down." Second picture is really fuzzy but shows the connections he made between the aluminum and the pig-tailed copper inside the panel. It was a secondary panel (primary was at the meter with the main breaker) and was wired wrong. Owner kept saying "but the guy knows what he's doing, everyone here uses him." Client will probably walk. Glad I don't live out West, I might end up in that "Deal-Breaker" column. []

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[John Kogel]

Nice work. Do you always pull a receptacle when you see Al in the panel? Or only when you see new receptacles have been installed?

[Charlie R]

I used to just pull a few that looked new or newer, but I started making it part of my procedure about 2 years ago to pull at least two (usually a receptacle and a switch) on any system using aluminum. The aluminum has been in there 40 years or so now and is getting brittle so you have to be really careful. I have had wires snap off.

[plummen]

Yeah that guys another hack.

I usually look for the tin/aluminum plated looking screws as a first sign that the plugs are actually for aluminum

[Steven Hockstein]

We recently completed a major renovation of a house built in the 1960's. There was aluminum wiring. The contractor showed the owner and myself a few areas that were scorched in electrical boxes that could not have been seen without demolition. After seeing this, the owner paid to change all of the wiring.