[RE-wrenches] AL vs CU

[Exeltech]

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 <jamesrudolph99 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: James Rudolph <jamesrudolph99 at gmail.com>
Subject: [RE-wrenches] AL vs CU
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
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 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20120213/6500d10c/attachment-0003.html>