TEMPORARY CONNECTION

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RLMJR

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British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garcia)
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Electrical Engineer
I need to have a temporary connection from the secondary of a13.8 kV to 208/120v pad mounted transformer up to panelboard also located outdoor, with two sets of 500MCM royal chord cables approx 120 lf , question is, do i need to install the cables underground? is exposed temporary wiring a violation in OSHA or any other safety manuals? the temporary wiring will last about one to two months.

Thanks in advance for the answers.
 
I suggest you read Art 590. Is your cable type allowed?
If conduit is required, your cable will be challenging to pull. It may less expensive and easier to use THHW/N
 
What size tranny? Is this cable on the secondary, and are there two runs in parallel? Your EGC may not be large enough for conductors in parallel.
Interesting the mfg uses MCM instead of KCML.
 
Art 590.4 expressly permits cables listed in table 400.4, which includes SO and all it's sub-types as well as type W. Actually, AFAICT 590 does not prohibit any wire/cable type, but it does loosen the rules for some (e.g. NM, .4(B)(1) and (C)(1)). There may be local electrical or workplace safety rules.

IMHO, whether you bury it or not is not an NEC question unless it's subject to physical damage or the type doesn't permit direct burial.

As for that specific cable, if it's already on hand might as well use it. If you're getting it shipped in, I'd make sure you have another use for the stuff; that stuff has to be way more expensive that single-conductor type W (or THHN in conduit). In most places, we'd just rent the cable for a couple of months, but that's probably not an option in Diego Garcia.
 
Is the mentioned transformer the POCO transformer or a SDS on site?

I ask because if the conductors in question are service conductors they must comply with art 230 per 590.4(A). If they are feeders they possibly can be flexible cord/cables from T400.4.
 
tom baker said:
What size tranny? Is this cable on the secondary, and are there two runs in parallel? Your EGC may not be large enough for conductors in parallel.
Interesting the mfg uses MCM instead of KCML.
Click to expand...

I’m curious why you find the use of MCM vs kcmil interesting.


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From https://forums.mikeholt.com/threads/conductor-labels.56107/
"The term MCM was defined as 1000 circular mils (the first M being the Roman numeral designation for 1000). Beginning in the 1990 edition, the notation was changed to 250 kcmil to recognize the accepted convention that k indicates 1000."

If you're used to using MCM, you're probably Old, or possibly Ancient.

Oh, ya, agreed on the service part above, that changes the rules.
 
zbang said:
From https://forums.mikeholt.com/threads/conductor-labels.56107/
"The term MCM was defined as 1000 circular mils (the first M being the Roman numeral designation for 1000). Beginning in the 1990 edition, the notation was changed to 250 kcmil to recognize the accepted convention that k indicates 1000."

If you're used to using MCM, you're probably Old, or possibly Ancient.

Oh, ya, agreed on the service part above, that changes the rules.
Click to expand...
I'm getting older, maybe not ancient but old enough that that change occurred during my career and kind of wondered what that was all about but makes sense now.
 
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