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My boss insisted on using aluminum for a 200 amp service upgrade, but I pushed for copper.
We were upgrading an old farmhouse outside of Boise, and the run from the meter to the panel was about 80 feet. He wanted aluminum to save on material cost, arguing the new alloys are just as good. I pulled out the old aluminum feeders we were replacing, which were badly oxidized and had caused a voltage drop issue. The homeowner agreed to pay the extra for copper, and the terminations felt so much more solid. For a permanent install like that, is the higher upfront cost of copper always worth it?
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riverknight21d ago
Good call pushing for copper on that long of a run. I've seen those old aluminum connections fail way too many times, especially in damp places like a farmhouse basement. The new stuff is better, but copper's reliability and those solid terminations are worth the extra cost for a main feed. You fixed it for the life of the house.
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oliviabennett21d ago
Yeah riverknight, that's why I always pay more for quality on things I can't easily fix later.
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blakem8212d ago
How many years did those aluminum lines last before they started to fail? I've heard the old stuff could go 20 or 30 years before the connection problems really showed up. Makes you wonder about the stuff we're putting in today.
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