Type of cable - how old is this cable do you think?

[WallaceP]

Hey looking for a roughy idea of how old this cable is,
It’s a rubbery cable some of it is twin and earth other is just 2 core red and black and the 3 core is red, yellow and blue. It looks like the conductor is tinned copper and it’s about 3 strands to what looks like 1.5mm of its imperial equivalent.

 

[telectrix]

VIR cable. 3/029 (imperial) must be 60+ years old.

 

[JBW175]

I’ve just found a load of this under the boards in my house that looks like it was from the original installation, also found lead sheathed cable too. If it helps, my house was built around 1930/35ish....

 

[westward10]

TRS (Tough Rubber Sheath) and is well past it reasonable service life. Here is an old thread to peruse.

The History Of Cable.

Many thanks to nickblake for originally posting this in a thread. Paper Paper insulation From the WW1 era Very rare now in domestic wiring Paper is somewhat hygroscopic Pre-war paper cable is still in service in distribution networks, and causes a good deal of downtime The polychlorinated...

www.electriciansforums.net

 

[telectrix]

I’ve just found a load of this under the boards in my house that looks like it was from the original installation, also found lead sheathed cable too. If it helps, my house was built around 1930/35ish....

get it out and weighed in. £2/kilo. more for the lead sheathed. both the rubber and lead sheathed were used early 20th century, the lead up till around the time uncle adolph started to play games.

 

[JBW175]

get it out and weighed in. £2/kilo. more for the lead sheathed. both the rubber and lead sheathed were used early 20th century, the lead up till around the time uncle adolph started to play games.

Happy days, I’ll be salvaging as much as I can and getting it weighed in now I know that.
Every little helps an all. ??

 

[Midwest]

You might wish to see if @Lucien Nunes wants some.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks - I'm after good, longish lengths and rare types. A bunch of 2' pieces of Henley 3/.029 TRS I can live without, but undamaged lengths of 10' that are still supple, I'll pay you more than the scrap man. 7/.036 and up, especially lead, starts getting more interesting and even shorter pieces might be useful because it's much harder to find. Also proprietary systems such as Stannos, Maconite, even good runs of Octopus braided, plus their matching fittings.

We've got specimens of many of these but not enough to put together complete displays of the kind that manufacturers used to show in their brochures.

Re the OP's cable, likely 1930s-50s. I don't think it can be pre-1932 as Crompton took over Derby cables in that year, but they were still manufacturing there into the 1960s and PE / PVC era. Is the triple actually red/yellow/blue or could the yellow be white that has discoloured? R/W/B PVC is rare, R/Y/B TRS I have never yet seen.

 

[JBW175]

Thanks - I'm after good, longish lengths and rare types. A bunch of 2' pieces of Henley 3/.029 TRS I can live without, but undamaged lengths of 10' that are still supple, I'll pay you more than the scrap man. 7/.036 and up, especially lead, starts getting more interesting and even shorter pieces might be useful because it's much harder to find. Also proprietary systems such as Stannos, Maconite, even good runs of Octopus braided, plus their matching fittings.

We've got specimens of many of these but not enough to put together complete displays of the kind that manufacturers used to show in their brochures.

Re the OP's cable, likely 1930s-50s. I don't think it can be pre-1932 as Crompton took over Derby cables in that year, but they were still manufacturing there into the 1960s and PE / PVC era. Is the triple actually red/yellow/blue or could the yellow be white that has discoloured? R/W/B PVC is rare, R/Y/B TRS I have never yet seen.

I’ll bear you in mind and pm you some photos of anything I rip out that I think maybe salvageable and of use to you mate.

 

[WallaceP]

Thanks - I'm after good, longish lengths and rare types. A bunch of 2' pieces of Henley 3/.029 TRS I can live without, but undamaged lengths of 10' that are still supple, I'll pay you more than the scrap man. 7/.036 and up, especially lead, starts getting more interesting and even shorter pieces might be useful because it's much harder to find. Also proprietary systems such as Stannos, Maconite, even good runs of Octopus braided, plus their matching fittings.

We've got specimens of many of these but not enough to put together complete displays of the kind that manufacturers used to show in their brochures.

Re the OP's cable, likely 1930s-50s. I don't think it can be pre-1932 as Crompton took over Derby cables in that year, but they were still manufacturing there into the 1960s and PE / PVC era. Is the triple actually red/yellow/blue or could the yellow be white that has discoloured? R/W/B PVC is rare, R/Y/B TRS I have never yet seen.

Thank you thats interesting. It may be white, i assumed it was yellow and had faded to white. I will try and remove it in one section if you want it. There isn't too much left. I have replaced most of it but now. Just a few lights I could not access until now because the attic was full. If I find anything else of interest I will let you know.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Ripped out miles of this stuff nearly all of it still in service

Sometimes it is brittle and sometimes it comes out like new

 

[MJPD29]

Ripped out miles of this stuff nearly all of it still in service

Sometimes it is brittle and sometimes it comes out like new

I find that too, I had only ever experienced it being brittle until recently we were doing work in an old house and it was coming out like it had just been installed

 

[lozarus]

I removed some last year from a site built in 1963 - I don't think it was Crompton, Volex rings a bell.

Still have some runs of VIR singles in galv conduit at same site (the type wrapped in a hessian type braid - not the kind used on lighting pendants). Generally in very good working order and the odd bits I've touched being very supple still. Low current work however.

So it was certainly in use well into the 60's.

 

[Dustydazzler]

My parents bungalow 1950s build was originally wired in black rubber twin flat. Split tube for switch drops and wooden back boxes for switches.
Black double back boxes for sockets , 1 per room and 2 in the kitchen.
It was all original when they moved in.
Now been rewired but split tube still remains in
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How much lead cable is still in use I wonder

In all my years doing rewires have only come across 1 house with a couple old circuits wired in lead cables still in service

Ripped out plenty but mostly redundant

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I took some lead out of service last year although it remains in situ. I have a site with a little bit still live. In 2004 I was at a large, non domestic site that was mainly lead and TRS, including cool stuff like 7/.044 and 7/.064 submains to wooden Kantark sub boards dotted about. When I arrived, the 100A 3-phase service had just been disconnected prior to partial demolition, the timeswitch was still ticking merrily on its spring backup. Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, my free time was suddenly zero and I wasn't able to recover very much of anything - the scrap men got all the best cable.