timmermeier
Member
- Location
- alton il
- Occupation
- electrician
Can i use BX cable as a EGC ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
BX cable
- Thread starter timmermeier
- Start date
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
Can you be specific about the type of cable you are talking about?
I second that.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
If it's a listed AC then the outer jacket/armor is a listed EGC.
But if the OP is actually looking at MC it is not a listed EGC. Using "BX" as a cable type in modern times raises electrofelon's question.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Yeah, around here everyone calls AC BX but who knows exactly what the OP is referring to. I'm assuming it's AC.
- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
We don't even have AC here unless you special order it.
Birken Vogt
Senior Member
- Location
- Grass Valley, Ca
Why does AC even exist any more?
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
It is used extensively in NYC.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
I really like it. I find the green wire in MC to be a horrendous waste of material and results in a big increase in labor.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
I haven't used AC in NYC in at least 10 years. It's all MC now. You might see AC health care facility cable in hospitals. When we want to save money we use MC-ap so no EGC's to contend with.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
So why did they come out with MC-ap? Why would someone use that over AC? What is the difference? (I know it has a bigger bond wire, but in practice and price what is the difference. do we need both?)
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Steel AC has a much stronger, thicker jacket and is therefore much heavier than it's lightweight MC counterpart. MC doesn't have paper on each conductor so terminations are somewhat faster. It's also easier (faster) to strip long sections of jacket like when entering a panel.
wwhitney
Senior Member
- Location
- Berkeley, CA
- Occupation
- Retired
So does anyone make aluminum jacketed AC cable? I checked UL Standard 4, and per the scope, it's an option under the standard.
Cheers, Wayne
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
I was just about to ask if AC could be aluminum jacketed.
I guess I am still a little confused about the overall product offerings. It seems MC-ap is most convenient due to the lighter aluminum jacket which is also much easier to snip, and the lack of having to make up a wire EGC. Why does AC always seem to be steel? Why does regular MC seem to be vastly more popular than either mcap or type AC? I suspect it is because of the cult of the green wire and the vast majority of electricians have been programmed to want the wire EGC?
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
ok, one of the guys that was on Mike's 2020 code change videos was from NYC and said that is all they used. No actual experience with what they use out there.
hbiss
EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
- Location
- Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
- Occupation
- EC
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
I thought you were joking at first but I googled it and it does come up
. "Lite" appears to be how atkore refers to AL sheathed cables, both types MC and AC. "MC lite" cable is not to be confused with the musician and rapper "MC Lyte"
MC Lyte - Wikipedia
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
In majority of the specifications we see they specify that they want the wire type green EGC. We often submit MC-ap to see if they will accept it because it saves a huge amount of labor not having to terminate the green wires. This is similar to specifications that call for wire type EGC's in EMT.