I have a big spool of 10 gauge, 4 conductor stranded wire that is rated up to 200C. The wire is 4 conductors twisted together (no outer shell), each conductor is stranded 10 gauge. The wires are rated up to
200C. The strands are 26 gauge.My question is, would it be legal to use this wire for home wiring.
All wires are brown color.
iNo, it would have to be listed with U.L. and NEC for the purpose
Then again, it sounds perfectly safe. IMO, we need to question these alien code enforcers and their wacky ways.
Nick
Not legal, and not smart either -- if all conductors are the same color, how do you propose telling the difference between hot, neutral, and ground?
Sell the spool on eBay or in your local newspaper, and use the money to buy the right wire for the job.
Please tell me you're joking.
Are you even allowed to put stranded behind a wall?
This is military surplus cable. I will check, but my common sense suggests that it should be rated for safety. I will check it out.
i
If there's no easy way to tell, you could test it and mark the conductors.
wire is cheap, if he uses it someday a home inspector will find it and the buyer at the time will want a rewire, or a bunch of $$$ off the sales price
Very large gague wire (#6 and greater) is usually stranded but each strand is like a #14 by itself. I don't think the prohibition is against stranded per se but the way it is terminated is incompatible with common devices like
20A receptacles and side screw terminals. A given receptacle will be marked with the approved wire sizes. A compression screw terminal can generally accept stranded wire but only one.As for color, Code allows for non standard colors to be used as long as the conductor is identified by the proper color tape at each end. Not a great idea IMO if you can avoid it. For example the SE wire (for a 200A service) only came in black, I had to tape off the neutral with white electrical tape to identify it. The inspector and power company guy had no problem with that.
Jacketed 4 cond #10 cable is similar to cable intended for 30A dyer installations. If there are markings embossed on the jacket, it will reviel if it is allowed, markings might be on the jacket or the conductors themselves. Is one conductor a smaller ground. What was the original use for this cable. Such a cable with solid conductors would be very hard to flex. My dryer is connected using simialr wires but unjacketed in a conduit. A 30A receptacle or hardwired using wire nuts may be allowed.
Removed from the jacket, this would be great for automotive amplifier installs.
The short answer is no.
No, If you use it, the wire police will haul you off to jail. Bubba
Ever heard of military intelligence, the oxymoron?
You fail to mention the insulation rating in volts. Just because the wire can be used in 200C means squat for anything.
I have used asbestos covered wire feeding heating elements. The ONLY place this wire could be used was in a smelter.
Having all of the conductors the same color prohibits the use for anything other than low voltage. You have some nice speaker wire there. White and green must be identified the length of the wire, and marking tape below #4 is a not acceptable. Sure hope you got a "deal" on it.
Not correct. The equipment grounding conductor, if insulated at all, is required to have a *continuous* covering of green or green with a yellow stripe. There are a couple of exceptions, but they don't apply in a residential application. [NEC 2005 Art. 250.119]
Similarly, the grounded (neutral) conductor is required to have a *continuous* covering of white, gray, or three white stripes on some color other than green, unless it's larger than 6 AWG. [Art. 200.6]
As always, the local inspector has the final say. The Code specifically provides that local inspection/enforcement authority may waive any portion of the Code.
Code violation. See 2005 NEC, Art. 250.119 and Art. 200.6
I just checked, it is rated for 600 volts RMS.
CXFK VOLTAGE RATING 600.0 MAXIMUM ROOT MEAN SQUARE (RMS) OPERATING VOLTAGE ALL CONDUCTORS
It was an OK deal. Not fantastic, but somewhat profitable. This reel is one of the few things remaining from the lot. I think that it would be easier to sell this wire and then buy the right color and gauge wire as needed.
This wire makes pretty good "machine tool wire", I think.
i
There's not much use for that wire in a house, although you may be able to use it to re-wire damaged "high" temperature appliances like ranges, water heaters, heating elements, HID light fixtures, etc. Those appliances usually use 105C or 150C wire at the most, so 200C would be OK. If you sell it, I'd keep at least 10 feet of it.
Thanks... I agree with you. I will keep 25 ft out of 525ft, and will sell 500 ft.
i
Yeah. It's wouldn't work in a wall at less than 150 C :-)
Nick
According to PipeDown :
There's a specific exemption for service conductors. It's more complicated with circuit conductors. You can mark a white conductor black to indicate it's hot. But you can't do the reverse.
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