Question regarding SER Service Entrance Cable.

[tolken4]

Ok, electricians are coming out Friday to run the cable and hookup my subpanel in the garage.

200amp inside house will be running to a 200amp in the garage.

They have down that it will take 75ft of cable and that it is an 85.00 up charge for copper. I have it in my head that this is a deal. I know aluminum is fine for this app, but I just like the idea of copper.

1. Am I stupid for upping to copper for the entrance cable?
2. I believe if I understood him correctly, he plans to run it open through the drop cieling in my basement to the garage wall and out to the panel. Is this ok? Does it need to be in conduit?

 

[nadogail]

Would it be unreasonable to establish that all the materials and labor furnished by the electrician will pass inspection or will be replaced/corrected at no additional cost to the Garage Owner? I should think not, that is why you called in a Professional in the first place.

 

[walrus]

1. Am I stupid for upping to copper for the entrance cable?
2. I believe if I understood him correctly, he plans to run it open through the drop cieling in my basement to the garage wall and out to the panel. Is this ok? Does it need to be in conduit?

No it doesn't have to be in conduit depending on location of cable. or depending on local codes?

As far as Aluminum vs copper goes, the aluminum used back in the day is a different alloy from todays stuff. There is tons of it being used without issues every day. Terminals in panels are made for it so I don't see the problem. If copper makes you feel better it doesn't seem like a huge up charge so what the heck. Must be a short run?

 

[tolken4]

Not sure I fully understand the first post... This is being done by a fully qualified electrician from one of the largest electric houses here in st. louis. However, code, is not always how one would do it in there own house. For examples, please reference the plastic vs metal box discussion in another thread on here.

It is a very short run, just 75ft.

So, sounds like everyone would have no problems with the aluminum then? Not completely against it, just thinking the 85 bucks ain't a bad deal to have copper and be done with it.

For electricians on here.... WHAT WOULD YOU PUT IN YOUR HOUSE? If all say aluminum I will just pocket the money.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Personally, I prefer copper but aluminum will work as well. If $85.00 fits your budget and it makes you feel better, do it.

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

Not sure I fully understand the first post... This is being done by a fully qualified electrician from one of the largest electric houses here in st. louis. However, code, is not always how one would do it in there own house. For examples, please reference the plastic vs metal box discussion in another thread on here.

It is a very short run, just 75ft.

So, sounds like everyone would have no problems with the aluminum then? Not completely against it, just thinking the 85 bucks ain't a bad deal to have copper and be done with it.

For electricians on here.... WHAT WOULD YOU PUT IN YOUR HOUSE? If all say aluminum I will just pocket the money.

Thanks for all the help.

Aluminum is for beer cans....I don't like it for electrical conductors and will never use it. Al has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion relative to Cu, it has a higher electrical resistance relative to Cu - resulting in the need for a larger cross-section than Cu for a given ampacity, it has a much higher coefficient of thermal transfer than Cu - which is why it makes good heat sink material; however, this is not good in the case of a short length bolted fault - in which case the consequent high temp can totally destroy the insulation and jacket and lead to secondary faults/fires, etc. However, it is lighter and despite the alloy make-up of Al today where Cu is blended in, it has relatively poor bending performance - work hardens much easier, requiring added tape construction to the conductor to provide bending tenacity.

 

[walrus]

For electricians on here.... WHAT WOULD YOU PUT IN YOUR HOUSE? If all say aluminum I will just pocket the money.

Thanks for all the help.

I have aluminum in my house, you might have it also. Are your service entrance conductors aluminum? I'll put more aluminum in my house when I build my shop. Would I use 12/2 aluminum, no but I see no issues with feeders to panels being aluminum. Again if you feel better with copper, use it. Piece of mind for 85 bucks

 

[Aceman]

I would have no problem with aluminum feeders in my house just like I have no problem installing aluminum feeders in a customers house.

 

[67gto]

I have aluminum SER cable feeding 2 subpanels in my house, a 100 amp subpanel that feeds all my kitchen circuits, and a 60 amp subpanel that feeds my garage. I have a 200 amp main panel that is connected to the meter can with copper (the main feed from the meter to the main panel). The undergound feeder cable that runs from the pad mounted transformer at the edge of my property 300 ft to my house is aluminum (provided by the power company). As long as the aluminum cable is properly sized & penatrox is used on the connections there should be no problems at all. Although I would never ever use aluminum wiring for branch circuits due to its thermal properties. My father-in-law's house was built in the late 60's, when aluminum wire was used to wire houses. I can remember they had flickering lights & dead outlets. I went through their whole house & had to put penatrox on all of the outlets & switches and re-torque (tighten) all of the screws. They had a few window air conditioners that I re-ran seperate circuits for, using 12/2 copper romex. Also in overhead service applications, aluminum SE cable is used to feed the meter from the overhead drop from the power company. All in all, different types of cables are used for various purposes. and if there were reliability issues with aluminum, the power company would not be using it.