Portable power cable

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patpappas

patpappas

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Salespeople call selling portable power cable, some of this cable is welding cable, I look at some welding cable manufactures info and some due specify its usagae for temporary power connections and some say it shoudn't be used as such, I can not find where a manufacturer specifies what the difference is in their cable is if you can or can not use it for power, I have never used welding cable for portable power but the price difference is quit a savings. Any thoughts whether it is good or bad idea.
 
The cables that I have found after looking in more detail are as follows, I had thought that no welding cable should be used for power. These are two different jacketed cables but I would still be leary.

Welding cable is designed for arc welding leads from the secondary side of the power source, typical of arc welders and welding generators. The cable is recommended for use where resistance to cuts, tears and abrasion is required. The cable is not designed to provide primary voltage. This cable may be used in wet or dry location at continuous conductor temperature of 105?C. This cable is constructed of thermoset (EPDM) jacket.


Seoprene (TPE)
Applications:
For use I/A/W NEC Article 630 electric welders. Flexible lead cable; electrode to welder unit. Uses may include battery cables and temporary and permanent power lead cables where allowed.
 
I cannot find anything in the NEC about using welding cable for power either. I had thought for a moment there was some truth to this and I missed it. I have searched several sights, non are rated for hard usage. Thank you for the help.
 
Type W is not welding cable..it is flexible power cable. There are some manufacturers of welding cable that have it dual listed as both welding cable and either RHH or Type W, permitting you to use it for both.
After some research a few years ago, I have no problem using welding cable for temporary power installations even though it is a violation of the code rules. What I found, at least for the one brand that I was looking at, was that the only difference between their welding cable and the Type W power cable was the thickness of the insulation...the welding cable was 50% thicker than the Type W, everything else including the stranding and the insulation material was identical. In my opinion the product that was permitted by the code was inferior to the one that was not permitted.

Chris I see that is not the same as the spec sheets you linked to. In those the Type W has a jacket over the insulation and the welding cable does not.

The issue with using the welding cable for power is the listing of the product. The listing specifies that welding cable is only for use on the seconday side of electric welding equipment.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
The issue with using the welding cable for power is the listing of the product. The listing specifies that welding cable is only for use on the seconday side of electric welding equipment.
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If you did use welding cable for portable power cable would you use T400.5(B) to determine its ampacity?

Type W has EPR insulation and is listed in this table. Welding cable has type EPDM. Both rubber the later being flame retardant.
 
i used to be in the portable power business. many years ago it was accepted practice to use welding cable for portable power. type W was too heavy and expensive. Welding cable was lighter and plentiful. The problem was that welding cable was designed for superior flexibility which resulted in a jacket that split open when crushed or had been twisted. This led to the development of EISL (now SC) cable and the banning of welding cable.
 
chris kennedy said:
If you did use welding cable for portable power cable would you use T400.5(B) to determine its ampacity?

Type W has EPR insulation and is listed in this table. Welding cable has type EPDM. Both rubber the later being flame retardant.
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When I used it, I did use that table. I don't remember the brand that I was using, but with that brand, both their welding and Type W cables used EPR insulation.
 
This welding cable is dual listed as welding cable and RHH, but it still could not be used in the application shown in Bob's pictures as I am not aware of any rule that lets you install an Article 310 conductor like that. For that application it would have to be listed as Type W.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
This welding cable is dual listed as welding cable and RHH, but it still could not be used in the application shown in Bob's pictures as I am not aware of any rule that lets you install an Article 310 conductor like that. For that application it would have to be listed as Type W.
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Agreed. RHH and RHW are not listed in T400.4 or T400.5(A) or (B). The closest you can come here is as the manufacture says:

Power supply applications not exceeding 600V. IMO this doesn't apply to hard usage.
 

Here is one that is Type W and also listed as RHH, but it is 2000 volt rated when used as Type W and only 600 volt rated when used as RHH. How does that work?
 
don_resqcapt19 said:

Here is one that is Type W and also listed as RHH, but it is 2000 volt rated when used as Type W and only 600 volt rated when used as RHH. How does that work?
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This is getting interesting. Your link lists that at 600V RHH for CT use. Lose the CT and its good for what?
 
chris kennedy said:
This is getting interesting. Your link lists that at 600V RHH for CT use. Lose the CT and its good for what?
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Any place you can install any other Article 310 conductor. It is still RHH. The "CT" marking is for compliance with 392.3(B)(1).
 
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