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Copper or aluminum?

I was going to install a gfci outlet and had the copper wiring to pigtail to the aluminum since I knew our house was built in 72 and had aluminum. When I opened the box I found an exisitng pigtail with wiring going into the receptacle that was copper colored with no mention of aluminum on the wire. I hooked the gfci up to it and it works fine. My question is is this a copper pigtail evidently put in by the previous owners and how to I differentiate between the two. I always had heard aluminum was silver. Thanks for any input.

Reply to
Tommy & Megan Price
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Are you sure you have aluminum wiring? Some builders used aluminum in the 70s but not all. You may also see aluminum in the larger sizes and still have copper on your 15 and 20a circuits. If there was a pigtail in the box you should have seen the splice to the aluminum.

Reply to
Greg

Reply to
Tommy & Megan Price

Some contractors did that so they did not have to pay the big bucks for the AL recpts. With a copper pigtail now they could stab the recpts switches, taking a lot less time in trim.

Reply to
SQLit

Hopefully this is the Copalum (AMP) splice. If so you should be OK but be very careful poking around in those boxes. That aluminum is easy to break and then you are in a jam. If possible do not move the aluminum when you are connecting up devices, Try to only work with the copper stubs.

Reply to
Greg

Reply to
Tommy & Megan Price

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