Copper clad

[abchoppers]

Hi all, Quick question about copper clad wire. My house was built in 1974, the aluminum wire was pigtailed and my box is all copper now. However, I noticed that I do have copper clad wire, the outside looks just like copper but a cut end shows AL. I was changing a bathroom gfi and noticed the wire was this copper clad AL so I searched online for safety. I found this on inspectny.com "J. Safety of HOMES Wired WITH COPPER-CLAD ALUMINUM WIRE - Copper-clad aluminum wire has a thin copper outer skin and a core of aluminum. Therefore it looks like copper, except on close examination of a cut end. Markings on the cable jacket would include "Al" or "Aluminum". There is no known history of connection overheating problems associated with copper-clad aluminum wire. No corrective actions are required for copper-clad aluminum wire."

I've also read this in other areas. My question - Is this true? Any expert opinions? Thank you in advance, Ryan.

 

[Alectrician]

I would not hook it directly to the device. I would use coper pigtails. It is still aluminum and the problems are generally at the device terminals.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The device needs to say "CU/CU CLAD" if you want to use copper clad on it. I'd still pigtail tho...