How to determine the home wiring?

During the 60s and early 70s, it was more economical to wire homes with aluminum than copper. As a result, a number of homes during this time period were wired with aluminum, many of which were “tract”-type homes. The US CPSC estimated that approximately two million homes were wired with aluminum between 1965 and 1974. But how to determine if your house has the home wiring?The best way to determine if your house has aluminum wiring (and the condition of that wiring) is to hire a professional building inspector or a professional electrician. They can do things like open your electrical panel, inspect plug and fixture connections, or find and inspect electrical junctions. These types of operations, especially when they involve potentially faulty aluminum wiring connections, carry a risk of electric shock, so they should be approached professionally and with extreme caution.A homeowner may get an indication of whether they have aluminum wiring by looking at the insulating jackets of the wiring in an exposed place such as a crawl space, basement, attic or garage.Such indications include printed letters such as “KAISER”, “ALCAN”, “ALUMINUM”, “AL/2”, typically appearing every several feet along the wires. The image to the left shows examples of such markings.