Appears some of my switch drops and the downstairs mains loop are mostly alluminium. Should I be planning to replace this asap? it has passed the periodic test, and was advised I should.

However after being told I need to spend 1k to replace a whole flue and a second opinion said just replace a seal I’m a bit wary of advice from people with a vested interest

I’d be looking at a rewire, as you may gauge from some of my posts I don’t like spending when it’s not necessary but in this case id be paying up.
Gotta be say 40 years or more old?

Are you sure it’s aluminium and not tinned copper (its not unknown for people to make that mistake?)

How can I tell the difference between the two?

I’d say the wiring probably is from the 60s for the most part with some more modern stuff.

Is there some identification on the outer sheath?
Scrape the conductor with a knife (make sure that it’s safe first 🙂 ) and see if a copper colour appears
Nothing wrong with aluminium as a conductor, it’s strung between pylons and still used today
I’m no expert on the history but copper is probably more likely in a house

Ally goes brittle with age and is a nightmare in the telecoms environment. The rail industry is currently looking at using ally for power again and all I can say is I hope then metallurgy has come on a bit since we last used it.

Our old flat had ally T&E. I think it was early 70’s vintage when there was a world copper shortage for what ever reason.

IDing it is easy, it’s silver and snaps really easily! It’ll be badly squished where screw terminals have been tightened down onto it.

Practical experience was that if you left it alone, it was fine, if you had to reterminate, you needed to cut the existing bare ends off (or it just snapped) and strip back a bit further to reterminate onto fresh wire.

Hmm that describes the living room sockets. I’ve switched the sockets and it was quite tough getting the ends in the smaller holes of the new plug. So far that’s the only room though.

Before you spend a heap of money modernising the house blitz the wiring.

You’ll only wish you had done it before wasting money decorating when you go to do it.

Eventually you’ll end up with a tail that’s too short to get into a socket.

It’s not just the aluminium that bothers me but the material hat the sheath is made of.

Easier to make the mess now before you get settled in.

Could worse – original 1930s copper in silk and natural rubber insulation. Insulation wasn’t so good by the 1980s.

Personally, I’d follow TRs advice.

We are currently investigating replacing copper for aluminium in some motors at work.

had quotes for a full rewire, between 8 and 10k which we simply don’t have at the moment. we plan to do sections as we go. I know not the most efficient. I’ve had a sparky test the circuits and replace the consumer unit, I’ve got him coming back in a couple of weeks to help me replace some lighting circuits with no earth and extend the upstairs sockets. after that I should have the confidence to do the rest myself. As I get to a room to decorate it’ll include boards up and rewiring.

between 8 and 10k which we simply don’t have at the moment.

Bloody hell – how big is the house?!

Don’t forget it’s not just boards up but channeling into the walls as well. Horrible dirty job.

5 bed detached 1930s jobbie. used to be split in two at some point which accounts for electric weirdness that needs sorting.

I did 11 backboxes and chases behind skirting this morning in about 3 hours. it’s not that bad. most difficult thing is my glasses keep steaming up… multi tool to cut the straight lined and a channel bit in an sds means it’s pretty straight forward. I’ve got some silly tough black type bricks which are too tough for me to chip out by hand

I’m not looking forward to crawling through the loft and trying to sort the lighting circuit out

I’m actually very tempted to decommission several switches and replace the with wireless hue hobbies rather than rewire. bulb and wireless switch for £25. just have the light wired on all the time

1 room at a time is a manageable and sensible way to go in my view