Re: ??Where to get a POLE Transformer??

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "cougercat by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <felix1063-at-home-dot-com>

Houses here use to be wired in aluminum but too but the city found that
houses wired in aluminum although cheaper, tended to burn to the ground at a
frequent rate.  Studies found that when the aluminum was exposed to air, a
high resistance oxide (AlO) was formed on the wire at wire junctions, thus
causing heat when current was run thru the joint, thus causing fires.

Terminations with aluminum wire tend to get loose from the heating and
cooling of the joint as current flows thru it and have to be re-tightened
from time to time.

Aluminum is used as feeders to houses, but a conductive grease is used at
the wire joint between the aluminum feeders and the house branch circuits.
The grease insulates the aluminum from the surrounding air so that oxides do
not form.

Terminations from aluminum wire today have to be rated for AlCu.  While they
may look like aluminum are actually constructed out of an alloy.  It is
suppose to make the formation of an oxide more difficult, but if there is a
bit of water present in the connection, oxides and metal salts will
form....So  It is recommended that a conductive grease like "Non-Ox" be used
between all aluminum joints to anything else.  Even another aluminum
conductor.

My 1 1/3 cent worth.

--jeff



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: ??Where to get a POLE Transformer??


> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<CTCDW-at-aol-dot-com>
>
> I would be most interested in where this opinion comes from also...why IS
> aluminum "crap"? Except for the oxidation, and to a lesser extent, the
> compression factor, I can see nothing wrong with it. Houses were wired for
> years with aluminum, and although that is not done anymore, the large
gauge
> wires coming from the pole are often of aluminum, which is still sold at
your
> friendly neighborhood home depot. I too have a Pole transformer with AL
> windings (the low-volt side) My high voltage coil is copper.
>
> Chris W
>
>
>