Cable from damp shed

[Arthur51]

Hi. Just taken a reel of 2.5mm cable from shed. The cardboard 'wheel' is damp. Is the cable safe to use?

Thanks.

Arthur

[fred]

In article , Arthur51 writes

The ends are the only issue and it's unlikely that the damp has penetrated far. Strip the free end to see if there is any discolouration and discard any that isn't clean but I would expect it to be fine.

[js.b1]

Consider how damp the local unheated electrical factors warehouse is.

The cardboard is damp because the large body of copper between it has a temperature below the dew point of the shed environment, thus condensation will naturally form on cable sheath, metal tube & even cardboard surfaces. The same environment exists in an unheated electrical factors warehouse - perhaps worse re human bodies wandering about dumping moisture into the air and not perfectly sealing roller shutters.

If concerned cut off the first 1m (10cm will probably suffice).

It is SWA that you need to be most concerned about, because the armour is c.90% coverage - 10% air voids do allow water to be drawn up by capillary action & limited thermal cycling. The air voids also allow water to track down in an enclosure past a bottom fitted CW gland and around the armour cable which has been cut - hence the twist-below-the- gland-crunch-test for rotten armour on sites. E1W or CCG glands avoid this problem by sealing against the bedding and not just the outer sheath, they cost a bit more though.

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes.

[1501]

Perfectly so.