Found out my garage outlet was a fire hazard from a random YouTube comment

Was watching a wiring tutorial and someone mentioned older outlets with aluminum wiring can overheat under heavy loads. Checked mine and sure enough it was aluminum from the 70s, already had scorch marks on the back. Anyone else find nasty surprises in their garage wiring?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey_barnes18d ago

Yeah but how did you actually check it... did you pull the outlet right out of the box or just look at the wire color? Ive heard some of those older aluminum connections can look fine on the surface but still be corroded inside where you cant see it.

john43018d ago

Respectfully, I've been doing this stuff since the 90s and I'm not sure I buy that. If the wire looks bright and clean at the terminal and you've got a solid connection with the right rated devices, corrosion inside the stranded bundle isn't really a thing like people make it out to be. Your mileage may vary depending on your local climate, but I'd bet most of those horror stories come from loose connections or mismatched fixtures, not hidden corrosion.