Electricians in Glendale

Aluminum branch wiring

What it is and what an approved fix looks like

Aluminum branch-circuit wiring ran through a lot of late-1960s and 1970s building, and it is the most underserved subject on contractor websites in the Valley. Homeowners hear about it from an inspector or an insurance company, panic, and search — and most sites say nothing.

Aluminum expands, contracts and oxidizes differently than copper, so terminations loosen and heat up over time. The failure point is almost always the connection, not the wire in the wall.

Pigtailing with standard wire nuts is not an approved repair. Plenty of people have had it done to them anyway. Approved remediation means listed connectors rated for the aluminum-to-copper transition, or a COPALUM crimp, installed at every device, splice and termination in the house — and devices themselves have to be rated for aluminum wherever aluminum lands directly on them.

Insurers and buyers ask about this, so documented remediation matters at sale time. A full rewire is sometimes the better value, and we'll tell you when the numbers say so.

• Assessment comes first, and it costs a fraction of remediation
• Partial remediation is sometimes the sensible call
• Sometimes a rewire is the better value and we'll say so
• Documented remediation matters to insurers and to buyers

Also in Glendale

Capacity, chargers and monsoon season

Plenty of panels from that era aren't dangerous — they're just out of breaker space. A sub-panel is often the cheaper right answer, and we'd rather install one than sell you a service change you don't need.

EV chargers, where the aluminum question and the service capacity question usually arrive together.

Arizona conditions

What the desert does to electrical work

• Monsoon surge. Summer storms put transients on the line every year. A panel-mounted SPD protects what you can't unplug — the AC, the furnace board, the range, the well pump.
• Pool and spa bonding. Equipotential bonding around pools is one of the most-missed items in the code and one of the most dangerous to get wrong. Common on older pools where equipment has been swapped over the years without anyone checking the bond.
• Condenser circuits. AC equipment here runs harder and longer than almost anywhere. Disconnect, whip and circuit get sized and inspected on that basis.

Permits

Permits and inspection

Every jurisdiction in the Valley has its own portal, its own scheduling, its own inspectors. We've permitted in all of them. The permit is ours to pull and ours to close out.

Utility

Utility coordination

APS and SRP territory across the Valley is chopped up, not drawn along city lines. Part of a neighborhood is on one, the next street is on the other. You don't need to work out which one serves your address — we do that, and we handle the cut-in card, the disconnect and the meter release with whichever utility it turns out to be.

Coverage and credentials

Who we are and where we work

B and D Electric LLC is based in Arcadia and works a 30-mile radius from central Phoenix — which covers essentially the whole Valley. Arizona ROC 361086, bonded through RLI Surety, $1M/$2M general liability. Residential and commercial, direct to owners and as a sub to general contractors.