Know Anything about House Wiring?

[Fox]

As a property manager, licensed trade, and a homeowner, I'll offer up the following.

1. Pull a permit.
2. Anywhere you are connecting new copper, to existing aluminum, use the approved Marrete connectors, utilizing No-Lox paste.

OP, I'm surprised you were able to obtain insurance without having the house wiring inspected. When I bought my 1972 bungalow, I had to have a licensed electrician inspect the house, including all device boxes. My contractor had two electricians attend, and spent the day going over every circuit, replacing non-compliant devices and connectors. It cost $800, but at the end of the day, the house is safe, and I have a letter for the file indicating that it conforms to current code.

Bought my house just over 3 years ago, no inspection outside of a general home inspection (huge waste of money) to get insurance and I even have a wood burning appliance. On top of that if you needed a full wiring inspection they would have to cut holes all over your house, it is not what you can can see it is what you cannot see, like hidden boxes or a lack of stapled wires, etc.

[Bluebulldog]

Bought my house just over 3 years ago, no inspection outside of a general home inspection (huge waste of money) to get insurance and I even have a wood burning appliance. On top of that if you needed a full wiring inspection they would have to cut holes all over your house, it is not what you can can see it is what you cannot see, like hidden boxes or a lack of stapled wires, etc.

Home inspectors are a sham.

Full wiring inspection wasn’t needed, as it was apparent that with most of the house, no upgrades other than fixtures had been done.

Surprising that your insurance carrier didn’t want a WETT inspection done either?

[Fox]

Home inspectors are a sham.

Full wiring inspection wasn’t needed, as it was apparent that with most of the house, no upgrades other than fixtures had been done.

Surprising that your insurance carrier didn’t want a WETT inspection done either?

They needed the numbers, I took pictures and emailed the guy, no issues, they have the appliance tag on file too.

As for an electrical inspection, you can cover up a lot with drywall, just taking covers off does not really prove much, seems similar to a house inspection.

At least the house inspector got $1000 knocked off the price to patch the foundation, but the crack does not leak anyway.

[MarkB]

I bought a home from 1973 last year. Paid a licensed electrician to rejuvenate, and I know we did extend circuits from aluminum, so it is possible. He used a special paste and marrete connectors. Anyhow, I know it's possible, but I recommend getting a licensed professional to do it. Last thing you want is for your house to burn down, and then insurance doesn't cover it because it wasn't certified.

[JoePa]

Where do you get the idea that the insurance company won't pay up if your house burns down because of some wiring that you did? - so if I use a extension cord and connect it to a lamp and the cord is faulty and starts a fire the insurance won't pay - or if I let a pot of grease on the stove and it catches fire and burns down the house the insurance won't pay - that's why we have insurance - to cover things that happen because of mistakes that we make - not only naturally caused events - lets face it millions of guys do their own wiring - just go to a home depot or lowe's store - who is buying all of that electrical merchandise - home owners

[BIG MAC]

Joe, things might be different here in Canada, and these are more recent changes and maybe not EVERY Insurance Company would not cover you, but do you want to take the chance on a $200,000. - $ 900,000. investment. 20 years ago probably wouldn't have been a problem. as an Electrician who has been in his share of houses, I have seen 2 that where done by people who thought they could do their own and a Miracle the house didn't burn to the ground. I was called because they lost hydro and in both incidents connections hadn't been done properly and with A Load on the wiring it caused the connection to burn off and thus loss of power.

another thing about aluminum wire, when I wired houses we did all the regular circuits in A, when we did the dryer, range and split plugs in the Kitchen we used Copper, reason being these had the more constant higher loads on them.

[MarkB]

Yeah, I kind of see a bit of a difference between an accident where cooking oil spills off a stove top, and a homeowner putting his house at risk because he doesn't want to use a licensed professional to do the work. I can tell you straight up, when I went to insure my house, they asked for an electrical certificate, and to get that I needed an inspection. You can do the work yourself, as long as it passes an inspection and you get the certificate at the end. If you don't, and the insurance company finds out that the house burned down because the home owner wired things incorrectly, you think their going to say "It's okay, we know you screwed your wiring up to try and save $800 by not using a professional. Here's $800,000. Have fun."?

Take a chance, not my house. I wouldn't. In my head, it's crazy risking a claim of $100,000's (in Southern Ontario GTA, call it +$1 million) to save $800.

[Bluebulldog]

Where do you get the idea that the insurance company won't pay up if your house burns down because of some wiring that you did? - so if I use a extension cord and connect it to a lamp and the cord is faulty and starts a fire the insurance won't pay - or if I let a pot of grease on the stove and it catches fire and burns down the house the insurance won't pay - that's why we have insurance - to cover things that happen because of mistakes that we make - not only naturally caused events - lets face it millions of guys do their own wiring - just go to a home depot or lowe's store - who is buying all of that electrical merchandise - home owners

Because Joe, insurance companies aren't in the business of paying claims. They're in the business of not paying them.

Was the extension cord approved? UL or ULC, or up here CSA? Why was the lamp plugged into an extension cord? Code up here prohibits using extension cords for use as permanent wiring.....

When you're staring at a smoking crater in the ground that used to be your home.....you really don't want to give an insurance company a reason to deny your claim.

[Bluebulldog]

I bought a home from 1973 last year. Paid a licensed electrician to rejuvenate, and I know we did extend circuits from aluminum, so it is possible. He used a special paste and marrete connectors. Anyhow, I know it's possible, but I recommend getting a licensed professional to do it. Last thing you want is for your house to burn down, and then insurance doesn't cover it because it wasn't certified.

Same story for mine.

Every place a device was connected was an aluminum rated Marrette and no-lox paste pig tailed to a copper wire.

[JoePa]

If I owned a home that had aluminum wiring I would remove a couple outlets and switches and see if they are marked CO/ALR - this mark is the only approved rating for aluminum wiring - if the devises have a AL/CU rating they are not considered approved anymore - they were at one time but now are considered hazardous - if the devises don't have the CO/ALR rating I would gradually replace them -