Twist - is technology old?
Aluminum wiring can be used anywhere in the home with a simple rule: 1 mm2 of wiring should account for 1 kW of load. Therefore, to select the cross-section of the aluminum core, you need to know the power of each installed device. And the most common ways of connecting wires - twisting, soldering and welding.
The twisting of aluminum wires or the mechanical plexus of cores is the simplest, but also the most unreliable and fire-dangerous method. In the second half of the last century, this method was used everywhere, so far it can be found in "Khrushchev".
At a time when this method became popular, the energy consumption of apartments was very low, no washing machines, air conditioners, powerful refrigerators, computers were not in sight. Today's household appliances create a certain load on the electrical network, which an aluminum wire with a small cross section can not withstand.
In addition, its service life is about 20 years, then it becomes brittle and breaks with all the ensuing consequences: from short circuit to fire. In modern electrical work, the twisting method is not used, because all elements have a large cross-section.
Choosing a more reliable method of connecting
A safer method is soldering aluminum wires. This can be done at home with a certain skill. The ends need to be tanned beforehand. To do this, the treated area is densely covered with rosin and placed on a sanding pad. With a hot soldering iron, its end is pressed against the skin, constantly adding rosin.
So it needs to be done several times in a row to get a tinning of sufficient thickness. After this, the spike occurs in the usual way.
How to solder aluminum wires quickly? Take instead of rosin a good mineral oil, which is used to lubricate sewing machines. Alkaline oil is also very suitable for this purpose, which is usually used for cleaning weapons after firing.
Welding of aluminum wires at home can only be performed by an experienced person. The seams should be one piece with the parts, only in this case the current will flow unhindered. The difficulty of welding is that in air on the surface of aluminum an oxide film is formed, it is a dense chemical compound, and therefore refractory. For welding, fluxes or argon arc welding are used.
How to connect two aluminum wires? Boil or solder, and then isolate. An easier way to connect aluminum wires is to use modern polyethylene clamps and terminal blocks. They do not require additional insulation, the wires just need to be cleaned, gathered in one bundle and screwed onto it by the clamp clockwise until it stops.
Very often in the house there is a need to extend the electrical wire. Then the question arises, how to build up an aluminum wire? The answer is approximately the following. Be sure to use only the same material from which the main wire is made. Aluminum can be grown only with the same material.
The connection point must be as strong as possible to avoid heating. In the carelessly connected wires resistance increases, and they heat up each time more and more. This can even lead to a short circuit. In places of load, use textile insulating tape or special screw clamps.