[RE-wrenches] AL vs CU
Gurus, Other than the cost and increased labor what else could be a factor in determining whether or not to use copper or aluminum in long output circuits? -- * James B Rudolph NABCEP Certified PV Installer California Certified Journeyman Electrician *Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless! - William McDonough ___ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
Re: [RE-wrenches] AL vs CU
AL advantage: Weight (especially in long overhead runs). Theft factor (less attractive than CU to thieves at the moment). CU advantage: Smaller conductors for a given current. CU-friendly lugs are readily found on the shelf. Ease of attachment to hardware. Less brittle/more flexible than AL. Commonly available in a variety of gauges. Common to both: Both metals corrode if improperly protected. AL/CU recognized splice blocks alleviate dissimilar metals issues. Likely there are many more. There's a wealth of experience in this group. Dan --- On Mon, 2/13/12, James Rudolph wrote: From: James Rudolph Subject: [RE-wrenches] AL vs CU To: "RE-wrenches" Date: Monday, February 13, 2012, 10:35 AM Gurus, Other than the cost and increased labor what else could be a factor in determining whether or not to use copper or aluminum in long output circuits? -- James B Rudolph NABCEP Certified PV Installer California Certified Journeyman Electrician Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless! - William McDonough ___ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
Re: [RE-wrenches] AL vs CU
If you're running them on a rooftop (i.e. not buried), expansion/contraction is a bigger issue with aluminum than copper-- so plan for that as best you can, like with loops in pull boxes and sweeps rather than LBs. On 2012/2/13 13:39, Exeltech wrote: AL advantage: Weight (especially in long overhead runs). Theft factor (less attractive than CU to thieves at the moment). CU advantage: Smaller conductors for a given current. CU-friendly lugs are readily found on the shelf. Ease of attachment to hardware. Less brittle/more flexible than AL. Commonly available in a variety of gauges. Common to both: Both metals corrode if improperly protected. AL/CU recognized splice blocks alleviate dissimilar metals issues. Likely there are many more. There's a wealth of experience in this group. Dan --- On *Mon, 2/13/12, James Rudolph //* wrote: From: James Rudolph Subject: [RE-wrenches] AL vs CU To: "RE-wrenches" Date: Monday, February 13, 2012, 10:35 AM Gurus, Other than the cost and increased labor what else could be a factor in determining whether or not to use copper or aluminum in long output circuits? -- * James B Rudolph NABCEP Certified PV Installer California Certified Journeyman Electrician *Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless! - William McDonough ___ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options& settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules& etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org ___ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
