Flexishield Cable

[mrbluesky]

Anyone used Flexishield cable/ pre wired conduit.
May have a job for it (1.5 - 6.0mm), i was wondering how much it costs for 2 core + E.
Can anyone help with a rough cost.

Cheers

 

[Guest123]

Hey there.

I've not used myself yet but there is a company called Cleveland Cable Company who deal with it.

There is a "provide a quote" feature on their website which may be of use to you.

Home page

Cheers.

 

[mrbluesky]

Thanks Lenny

Ill try that.
I dont really need it for the earthed sheild it will be installed on existing basket (20 circuits approx), thought it might be better than T&E and cheaper than FP200.

 

[Spudnik]

I have read that its around £100/ 100M.

Maybe best contact your local wholesalers

 

[Gareth J Gibbon]

I believe that since it has an earthed sheath it is compliant with the 17th edition when in a wall preferably under capping and horizontal or vertical to the accessory to which it's wired.There is no need for earthed conduit or installation at over 50mm depth to permit protection with a mcb.This means that switch drops utilising this cable enable lighting circuits to be mcb protected and not require additional rcd protection.Some electricians would maintain that rcd protected lighting circuits are to be avoided unless mandatory such as the lighting in bathrooms.

 

[jase]

What do people reckon to it's use as an alternative to SWA , im thinking buried for some outdoor lighting?

 

[sparkydude]

Used thousands of metres of it at our current job. Stuffs a nightmare to strip at DB end as you have to do it in 6 inch bits. The cable is stiffer than FP and so dresses on tray niceley , but it has a tendency to kink easily aswell. Overall CSA is a bit bigger than FP aswell.

As for price , the £100 for 100m of 2.5 is about right, but sure you could get a decent discount off that . We always buy from Cleveland Cable. Would never entertain the idea of burying it , would be like direct burial of FP.




Nick

 

[jase]

reg 522.8.10, i dont see any difference in burying flexishield instead of armoured in the ground compared to using it instead of armoured in a wall

 

[sparkydude]

By the regs i guess you can yes, however, i doubt if it is designed for that purpose. If you want to bury some, then may i suggest you contact cleveland cables and ask them , as they will know if it has been trieds before and if it is suitable .

Personally i would not do it as it seems like a bit of a bodge to me, and as the costs are pretty similiar to SWA , i would stick with the known quantity.


Nick

 

[jase]

Was just thinking it would be easier to gland in and out of galvanised 20mm tee boxes, which would then be filled with magic gel,

 

[Philostein]

Sorry cant help with costs, just to say that we specified the use of this on a large hospital in the midlands due to the cost saving on the install when compared to trunking, conduit and singles. Great product, but keep it secret eh.....

 

[Markdaspark]

Used thousands of metres of it at our current job. Stuffs a nightmare to strip at DB end as you have to do it in 6 inch bits. The cable is stiffer than FP and so dresses on tray niceley , but it has a tendency to kink easily aswell. Overall CSA is a bit bigger than FP aswell.

As for price , the £100 for 100m of 2.5 is about right, but sure you could get a decent discount off that . We always buy from Cleveland Cable. Would never entertain the idea of burying it , would be like direct burial of FP.




Nick

It is a nightmare to strip. Did you find an easy way?

 

[Scintillam]

It is a nightmare to strip. Did you find an easy way?

Use it quite a bit, different manufacturers make a. Difference some drums of it are worse than others, sometimes it comes off in one or two pieces to do a db, other times(rarely) it’s probably 50 pieces, Doncaster cable multi use and flexshield normally strips ok, atom is hit and miss and cheaper/unknown stuff can be an absolute nightmare if you want to avoid damaging the cores.
When it doesn’t strip nicely in longer pieces I find it quicker/less risk and hand pain to strip the cable in small pieces that slide off easily rather than fighting to remove a larger piece.

On the really bad stuff I have admitted defeat and stripped it off in tiny pieces an inch at a time as nothing else wanted to work without risking damage.

I usually use a jokari 15 cable stripper to neatly ring the cable and pull the sheath off on the smaller sizes- 1.5/2.5, 4mm jacket often is looser and pulls off in large pieces although sometimes it better to pull the sheath back with your hand rather than using the cable stripper,
That is my preferred method, however when that doesn’t work there are a few other ways to get it,

With a jokari 15 and possibly the ergo strip there is a blade that is used to cut into the insulation down the length of the strip the plastic then pulls off and the metal jacket can be untwisted/separated from the cores and removed,

Similar can also be done with a Stanley knife in the same way the outer sheath of an swa is removed by stripping the length required by sliding the side of the blade up against the swa armouring/metal sheath and then unwrapping the metal sheath.
With the last two methods you can also separate the cable and sheath at the end once you have sliced down the length, then pull the cores in one hand away from the sheath and the sheath in the other pulling in the opposite direction to separate them -as pulling the cores allows them to pull between the wraps of the sheath in the spiral.

Where the plastic sheath snd metal sheath are fused together and it doesn’t pull off in a few pieces it’s often necessary to strip the cable outer sheath along the desired length a few times to remove enough of the plastic sheath to allow the cores to pull through the spiral or to untwist it.

Side note- the sheath of the. Cable can only carry a limited amount of fault current when penetrated due to its design, so the maximum current and type and breaker you can use may be limited to a c20 or b32 For the same cable size

 

[pc1966]

I have the predecessor to this tool:

RS PRO Triple Action Wire Stripper, 4.5mm Min, 29mm Max | RS

uk.rs-online.com

It scores the outer sheath to an adjustable depth, then a bit of bending splits that off without damaging the core's insulation, and finally the usual struggle to pull the sheath off. Some thin gloves help, better grip and less risk of cuts.