NM NIGHTMARE defective nm cable

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klineelectric

Member
Location
FL
Occupation
electrical contractor
I used about 200-250 feet off of a 1000' reel of 12-2 nm on 2-3 small jobs. Using the same reel I noticed the clear insulation from the black wire looked sliced on a piece that I was terminating. Since it was a short piece 4-5' I replaced it and inspected the bad piece. When i pulled the black from the insulation there were nicks about 1" long exposing copper. So I went to the reel and started cutting 2' pieces and pulling out the conducters from the yellow insulation. To my horror the black wire looked like it was dragged on something sharp nicking and exposing copper about every 2-3' during the manufacturing process. The only insulation from black to ground at these spots was the brown paper uggghhhh!! I called the manufacturer who told me to remove the 200-250' already installed and they would cover the costs. Easier said than done since one job the wire was run between 1st and 2nd floor scissor trusses. And the second job was a rehab of a 1950s house with no attic space. This is a nightmare, in 22yrs on the job I have never run into a defective reel of wire before has anyone else and what was it like trying to recoup from the manuacturer. By the way the 12-2 wire was dated 1/15/10. Made in Indiana plant
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
I had student who was taught by his dad to reel off NM and run it thru his hand. He felt a lump, stopped and cut open the jacket, and found a red wire connected to a black wire, by looping the wires, this was covered with heat shrink. I have a picture of this perhaps I can post it.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
S*** happens. At least the manufacturer has the decency to own up.

I had an electrician once run a short piece of 2C shielded cable for an instrument. The instrument did not power up so we started trouble shooting it.

One of the conductors was open so being as it was a short run it just got pulled and replaced.

inside the cable we found about a 4" gap where that conductor was just missing.

I had a piece of coax that did that to me once too. The gap was maybe 1/4 inch. I thought I would get flack from HD because I cut it open to see what was going on, but they replaced it without any complaining.
 

klineelectric

Member
Location
FL
Occupation
electrical contractor
The building contractor for the rehab is not happy, Neither am I. Im bringing the pieces of black wires to show him. Its a S.H.I.P. house which has to be completed in 45 days. This puts a strain on that timetable since its already painted. At least they didnt put the kitchen cabinets in yet. Anyone know how flexible they are about something like this. Florida.....I cant help but stress about straining my relationship with the builder and the ship people having to cut holes in a brand new ceiling. Hopefully they realize this was a fluke and I am being proactive and cautious.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
When I was using 1000' reels I use to ohm out the entire reel before installing. I did that for awhile then started using boxes and never checked it anymore. Perhaps we should do it again.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
I had student who was taught by his dad to reel off NM and run it thru his hand. He felt a lump, stopped and cut open the jacket, and found a red wire connected to a black wire, by looping the wires, this was covered with heat shrink. I have a picture of this perhaps I can post it.

you have got to be kidding I would like to see that pic :eek:hmy:
 

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
You will run into that. Had a roll of MC a while back that had a few bad spots.

Badmc005.jpg
 

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
The only thing we've come across is a buttsplice in the ground wire in that MC lite, but this was a few years ago. Other than that, no problems.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Probably at least 10 years ago I ran 10-3 wG for a clothes dryer from panel in one corner of house pretty much to opposite corner of house. Finished hooking everything up and turned breaker on - boom. OK I have a short circuit. Opened things up everything looked fine traced the cable as it was running across unfinished basement so it was easy to see and saw nothing that indicated any problem. I checked continuity between conductors with everything isolated and had a high resistance between conductors (been long enough ago I don't remember exactly what I had but it was not acceptable) Connected meter to remaining cable on reel and had a similar reading.

Ripped cable out and replaced with new cable from new reel. Supplier took defective back thankfully.

Also had a reel just last fall of 8AWG THHN/THWN 500 feet long. As we were getting near end of reel I noticed the insulation was getting thinner and was somewhat discolored (was supposed to be orange and was looking more yellow). Eventually there was spots that had no insulation. There was about 50 feet at the most at the end of this reel that had problems. The rest was already installed before this was found. Showed the remainder to supply house salesman when he was at a jobsite making a delivery and a few days later I got a credit invoice for remaining footage on reel.

I did see a piece of 6-3 NM cable once that another electrician brought with him to a CEU class that he had a problem with. A bulging spot in the sheath had inside it condutors that were spliced by simply wrapping each piece around each other and folding the tails over. Don't recall how they insulated them. That was also at least 10-15 years ago.
 

ActionDave

Chief Moderator
Staff member
Location
Durango, CO, 10 h 20 min from the winged horses.
Occupation
Licensed Electrician
In our shop there is a Polaroid picture of a piece of 6-3 romex that has one of the hots folded over the #10 bare ground, all of which was covered buy the sheathing. The wire was run to a range in a log home and was a major PIA to re-pull.
 

nhfire77

Senior Member
Location
NH
Although not nearly as dangerous, I found this speaker cable with a splice while making up a commercial audio distribution system.
 

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