Please always hire a licensed electrician to evaluate the aluminum wire in your home.

Do you have flickering lights in your house? There are several possible reasons why this could be occurring.

One possible such reason could be the result of aluminum wire in your home. If your home was built around mid 1960 through the early 1970s, it’s very possible it has aluminum wire instead of the more popular copper wire.

AlumiConn Aluminum to Copper connector

Problems can occur when you splice copper wire (found on devices and fixtures like ceiling fans and switches) to your existing aluminum branch wire. This is because copper and aluminum wire expand and contract at different rates when current is run through them. Over time, this differing expansion and contraction causes twist-on connectors to loosen. Once loosened, you can get arcing, which is when the current jumps between the two wires that aren’t touching anymore. This might be the cause of your flickering lights.

Bigger problems than Flickering Lights?

But flickering lights might be the least of your problems. A loose twist-on connector can result in all sorts of trouble. Oxidation can occur causing greater resistance and resulting in heat build up. Over time, this could even lead to fire as seen in the highly publicized case that brought the Consumer Product Safety Commission and National Fire Protection Association to study the effects of aluminum wire in homes. Their study found that homes built with aluminum wire manufactured before 1972″are 55 times more likely to have one or more electrical connections reach ‘Fire Hazard Conditions’ than is a home wired with copper” AlumiConn Aluminum to Copper connector

For more information regarding the risks associated with aluminum wire, please visit our aluminum wire info page or go to this page.

For more information on how to reduce the risk associated with aluminum wire, please read Dr. Jesse Aaronstein’s report entitled, Reducing the Fire Hazards in Aluminum-Wired Homes.

Solutions

There are ways to fix this problem, however. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends the best solution would be to replace the aluminum wire with copper wire. But, due to the cost to do this, it’s just not practical for many homeowners. Thankfully with AlumiConn you don’t need to. AlumiConn provides acomplete and permanent repair that’s listed by UL and recommended by independent tester Dr Jesse Aronstein.So, if you have flickering lights in your house, order AlumiConn today for a complete and permanent solution!