Welding Cable

[wbd]

Hello,

I'll preface this by saying that this is in one of our old powerplants, so it is exempt from the NEC but I do believe that we should adhere as much a possible.

I have found an installation of a feed from one panel to another, that welding cable was used. It is in steel conduit, is #1 copper, and operating at 480V.

If this was not in a powerplant, would this be allowed by NEC?

Thank you in advance.

 

[alehman]

Yes, if the cable is ETL listed with an appropriate type designation, is rated for the voltage being used and terminations are rated for use with the cable.

 

[waross]

What alehman said, but I suspect that it may be hard to find a welding cable that meets all the conditions.
BUT for a Non-NEC power plant, have you considered locamotive cable? I saw it used in a small plant and started using it myself in small power plants. It is a tougher cable, both the insulation and the wire stranding and is available in much larger sizes than welding cable.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[alehman]

Yeah, locomotive cable (DLO) is readily available with the required listings. Still have to get the right lugs, and it's kind of expensive...

 

[waross]

One trick is to use a hose clamp to compress and contain the strands so as to be able to get all the strands into the connector. You generally need a connector at least one size larger than rated for normal building cable.
That is, 353 MCM is a tight fit in 500 MCM connectors.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[busbar]

One feature of loco-power cable is that it is readily available as (UL) RHH/RHW, satisfying the code aspect. It's stranding is much finer than the usual "building wire", i.e., more flexible, but is not as fine as welding cable.

http://www.generalcable.com/NR/rdon...C001D712D/0/PG9SUPERVUTRONLOCOMOTIVECABLE.pdf

or Google 'locomotive cable RHW'.