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Board Mining support
Would you bet the farm on aluminum wire?
by
bellco
on 06/12/2017, 21:01:15 UTC
Hi everyone! 

First post and an electrical question.  I know, talk to a qualified electrician, and I will.  Seems like there are a lot of knowledgeable people here and I wanted to hear your opinions.

I want to power 3 Avalon 741’s on a single 220v line.  There is a 10ga ALUMINUM wire run maybe 40-50 ft to the main panel.  Nothing else on this line.

This place was built in the early 70’s and aluminum is what I have to work with.  It’s in a mostly finished basement and I don’t have a way to run a new line.

Capacity charts tell me 10ga AL is good for 25A.  I’m planning on putting a 20A breaker in the panel and a L6-20r on the other end.  I have a PDU that has 15A breakers for each of the 4 outlets.  Should be enough power for these three machines.

I understand most of the issues with aluminum is at connections so I will have to find breaker and outlet rated for use with aluminum.

Service entry wire is usually aluminum, right?  I know the A/C, fridge, freezers, etc. have been used in this house for decades, but I’m just worried about this continuous 24/7 load.

What do you think, good to go or will I have a BBQ?