Sunlight resistant SE cable

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JohnJ0906

JohnJ0906

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Baltimore, MD
This is a continuation of a discussion at work between myself and a couple of others.

Service installed with SE cable, marked "sunlight resistant". The cable has been painted to match the siding.

Is the SE cable still sunlight resistant, or did the paint compromise the rating?
 
I would check with UL and see what they say. I don't think that when the listed the product they had paint in mind as part of their listing.
 
Why would it lose the sunlight resistance? I would guess that the manufacturers are fully aware that there cables will be painted. They should anyway but I don't see paint as ruining the sunlight resistance. It probably helps.
 
Paint may help depending on what kind of paint. I've seen seu cable and conductors that were painted are still in service are 50 plus years old and insulation appears to be good.
 
SEO said:
Paint may help depending on what kind of paint. I've seen seu cable and conductors that were painted are still in service are 50 plus years old and insulation appears to be good.
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The White Book is silent on the issue ( as far as I can tell)

On one hand, paint might add to the resistance - UV won't even touch the jacket, right?

On the other hand, the paint chemicals might adversely affect the jacket.
 
JohnJ0906 said:
This is a continuation of a discussion at work between myself and a couple of others.

Service installed with SE cable, marked "sunlight resistant". The cable has been painted to match the siding.

Is the SE cable still sunlight resistant, or did the paint compromise the rating?
Click to expand...

If the paint contained solvents it could potentially interefere not only with the sunlight resistance, but the insulation quality of the cable. Otherwise a cover on top of a sunlight resistant item just increases its UV resistance.
 
JohnJ0906 said:
This is a continuation of a discussion at work between myself and a couple of others.

Service installed with SE cable, marked "sunlight resistant". The cable has been painted to match the siding.

Is the SE cable still sunlight resistant, or did the paint compromise the rating?
Click to expand...

Nothing to add but a question of interest. If it's painted over how did you know it was marked "sunlight resistant"? Scrape off the paint?
 
JohnJ0906 said:
If I recall the UL White Book correctly, SE cable, along with the conductors, are rated sunlight resistant.
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ULWhiteBook said:
Type SE ? Indicates cable for aboveground installation. Both the individual
insulated conductors and the outer jacket or finish of Type SE are
suitable for use where exposed to sun. Type SE cable contains Type RHW,
RHW-2, XHHW, XHHW-2, THWN or THWN-2 conductors.
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From the '08 White Book
 
I would say that the code is very clear about paint and anything else getting on to the panel bussing as being a NO NO, if paint was an issue with the SE cable wouldn't you think by now it would have been put in the code? SE has been around a long time.
 
UV resistance comes from a chemical that is added to the PVC jacket. If the jacket is intact then the UV resistance is intact.

I cannot imagine ordinary exterior 'house' paint as being damaging to PVC insulation of SE, UF, or NM cables.
 
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