I am in the process of building a house and my electrician seems to favor using aluminun wire for some aspects of the house wiring and pushes back when I suggest copper in these instances. First the 200A underground supply cable from the meter to the panel (maybe about 70 feet). He says copper would be three time the cost of aluminum, but pricing copper 2/0 vs aluminum 1/0 at Lowe's the difference is not so much at all so perhaps he simply gets a major discount for the aluminum. Secondly he seems to favor aluminum for the 240v circuits to the range, instant water heater etc.. My reading/research suggests that it's desirable to use copper in all cases but I'm not sure if I'm really getting an inferior set-up if I allow the elctrician to go ahead with the aluminum in the cases I've mentioned. Any comments would be welcome.:)

I don't see any problem with Al for the underground supply, but would really want all the internal house connections to be copper.

I agree with Keep. Just make sure you are being charged for alum, if they plan to use alum..

Personal note: Any company wanting to use Alum for a range, and H2O are waaay off base in my view. Many electrical contractors have switched to Alum for ranges to cut the cost of an estimate, but this is bull! Have them put in copper for your interior wiring.

I am a Copper person all the way, Service too.
Aluminum either has more profit for him, maybe the copper is too heavy and he might break a nail?

"M00nbeam agrees: Thanks for the comments. However, other than personal bias - which I do fully appreciate (I have plenty of them) - are there good reason for the CO for supply even?"

The Aluminum they use now is much better than in the past and is safe, cost effective, Many here feel fine with Aluminum, and commonly use it.
In 30 years, I have NEVER used it, I am surrounded by Salt Water, and have repaired many aluminum wiring problems.

I will take a partial opposing view on this. I use AL all the time for services and sub-feeds and sometimes for large circuits.
I also see NO problem with using #6AL for a range circuit. In fact 6/3SER is very common in my area for this. As is 6/3, 4/3 and 2/3 SER for sub-panels.

The mindset of no AL for the "interior wiring" is a bit narrow minded IMO. AL has it's place and is completely safe and proper when installed correctly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stratmando

I am a Copper person all the way, Service too.
Aluminum either has more profit for him, maybe the copper is too heavy and he might break a nail?.

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I will take this with a grain of salt and cut Strat some slack. He is in the Fla Keys. I doubt he has ever seen a single piece of AL wiring in his whole career, and for good reason.
Much of the rest of the country is a different story. Copper is fine, but if you are competing against other contractors who are using AL you HAVE to to stay competitive. I rarely bid on jobs but I still use AL for services. In fact, for SEU or SER services all I can get is AL. Same for URD underground.

I can paste a book on alum conductors. Too much to cover on one thread. Yet, I can agree it's safe (depending).

I believe Keep and I are on the same page.

Stan,

How do you handle coverting an electric range to gas, if the conductors are Alum (Note: You are only allowed to use the alum conductors serving the range)?

I assume this is a rhetorical question.
I'll first say I only do this as a last resort. I always run a new 15 or 20 amp feed to a gas range receptacle as opposed to bastardizing a perfectly good electric range circuit.

I would run the big cable to a junction box and splice a section of 12/2 to a new receptacle behind the range.
YES, I would use approved AL to CU splices, such as Insul-Taps.
I would then label the wire in the panel to be used on a 20A circuit ONLY and install a new SP20 breaker.
This is all assuming there is a white conductor and a ground in the existing range cable.

Good answer! My point: With copper, it would have been lot more simple!
:)