aluminum wiring?

[Ken Meyer]

Can anyone tell from looking at this photo if this is aluminum wiring? It's from an office building built in 1985. I could not see any markings on the insulation to help me out. The wires go to a heat pump.

Thanks

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[chicago]

The breaker is the clue and I would say yes.

CU-AL

dou.bt if it is just coated

[hausdok]

Yes,

It's aluminum wiring. However, this is not the aluminum wiring you need to be concerned with. The aluminum wiring that you need to be on the lookout for are the single-strand aluminum conductors used on single-pole breakers for general lighting and kitchen appliance circuits.

These are conductors on a large 240 volt appliance such as an electric furnace, stove/oven, hot-tub heater, etc. This is not the stuff that the insurance companies are concerned about.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Ken Meyer]

Thanks so much for your quick responses. I should have known this, but I just forgot that it only applied to branch circuits.

[Neal Lewis]

You also might want to mention that the service is three phase.

[jon_ran]

Originally posted by Neal Lewis

You also might want to mention that the service is three phase.

He said that this is the supply to the heat pump (not the main). Those are not the main breakers, they are the disconnects for the equipment, it just happens that there are 3 breakers in the pic instead of 2. While this may be 3 phase, there is not enough info in the post to determine that.

[charlie]

The Bryant BR350 is a 3pole breaker

[Richard Moore]

Here's the same photo lightened.

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You can see the handle-tie across all three poles. But, from this "distance", I guess we should say we sure hope it's a three-phase system.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by jon_ran

Originally posted by Neal Lewis

You also might want to mention that the service is three phase.

He said that this is the supply to the heat pump (not the main). Those are not the main breakers, they are the disconnects for the equipment, it just happens that there are 3 breakers in the pic instead of 2. While this may be 3 phase, there is not enough info in the post to determine that.

Three? I only see one 3-pole breaker. Check out his other post here and look at the second photo:

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... IC_ID=5866

You'll see that it's the same panel. Now can you tell whether it's 3-phase or not? [:-eyebrow

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike