Noalax necessary?

[sailor86]

From time to time I get to work in a house that has original aluminum wiring. Seems to me that back in the day, you were supposed to apply this substance called Noalax (not sure about the spelling) whenever aluminum met copper. Something about corrosion resistance. But I have seen cases of where somebody pig-tailed copper directly to some aluminum with no adverse effects. Is it a codebook thing? Is it a practical sense thing? Does it matter if it's only a 15- or 20-amp circuit?

 

[speedy petey]

Absolutely NOT! Noalox and a wire nut is NOT an acceptable AL to AL, or AL to CU, splice!

You need to use very specific splices for small AL wiring. IMO this is NOT a diy job and should ONLY be handled by someone experienced/familiar with this type of splice.

 

[triple D]

You take alum. to alum. or copp. to alum. and put together like regular junction, except you must only use a purple wire nut. It might be filled with the substance you mentioned....But you cannot make one of these yourself! you must use ul listed nuts. Just remember to downsize your wire. A 12ga alum wire should tie to a 14-2 copp. and a 10ga alum. to a 12ga copp., as alum. conductors do not have the ampacity copper does.