what do you make of this?

[Dean Williams]

who owns the cables ?
is it dno or consumer side of main switch ?
the pitch is bitumen based and is not conductive otherwise it wouldnt be used as a cutout sealant.
when its all melted away you'll have no arcing barrier between the main incomer terminals.

the pitch isnt between terminals, 2 large 40 yr old SWAs come into the top of this. there are no other terminals/live uninsulated parts above this. could it be old PILC cable and the pitch is from the cables' insulation?

 

[grantr37]

overloaded, with 10 sets of office gear running from this one supply, cables are heating up.......time for a rewire....

 

[Guest55]

the pitch isnt between terminals, 2 large 40 yr old SWAs come into the top of this. there are no other terminals/live uninsulated parts above this. could it be old PILC cable and the pitch is from the cables' insulation?

so wheres the pitch come from ? it wont be from swa cable.
i'd be looking for the last PIR that covered that mains cable.
are the cables outer covered in cloth fabric ?

 

[Engineer54]

the pitch isnt between terminals, 2 large 40 yr old SWAs come into the top of this. there are no other terminals/live uninsulated parts above this. could it be old PILC cable and the pitch is from the cables' insulation?

More likely to be PILC cables than SWA's. The pitch is there to seal the ends of the cables, as well as the tails against the ingress of moisture and stopping the oil impregnated paper insulation drying out. They don't install a pitch compound sealing chamber if it's not required.
If these are PILC tails in this chamber, I'd be also looking at the PVC taped tails, i wouldn't mind betting that paper insulation is bone dry under that tape!! lol!!!

If you don't have the experience with this type of cable work, i'd strongly advise you to pass it on to someone that does and will know how to rectify this problem.

 

[Dean Williams]

its part of an EICR that i'm doing, so i'll highlight it on there. i've got a meeting with the building maintainance manager tomorrow so i'll show him. i've got no experience with this method of sealing the ends etc. thanks for all your advice and help.

 

[Guest55]

More likely to be PILC cables than SWA's. The pitch is there to seal the ends of the cables, as well as the tails against the ingress of moisture and stopping the oil impregnated paper insulation drying out. They don't install a pitch compound sealing chamber if it's not required.
If these are PILC tails in this chamber, I'd be also looking at the PVC taped tails, i wouldn't mind betting that paper insulation is bone dry under that tape!! lol!!!

If you don't have the experience with this type of cable work, i'd strongly advise you to pass it on to someone that does and will know how to rectify this problem.

i suspect this cable is as old as the building ;-)
and i thought pitch sealing will only work properly on bottom entry cables , which this clearly isnt lol.

 

[Engineer54]

i suspect this cable is as old as the building ;-)
and i thought pitch sealing will only work properly on bottom entry cables , which this clearly isnt lol.

There are sealing chambers made for all types of entries top, bottom and side entry... As long as they are sealed while pouring the pitch and until set. ...I must admit, i haven't seen an installation such as this before, the paper insulated tails are normally within the pitch. I have seen modifications done, where paper tails have been exposed, then have been encapsulated in heavy gauge internal adhesive heat shrink tubing. But i think even that was on a temporary basis....

 

[Dean Williams]

I've just arrived on site. I'm working nights. the cables look like swa. I can see the armour. for about 8m the cables run through a boiler house. I've just took a reading of 60a and in the boiler house they're warm to touch.

 

[cossie400]

Is that a steel gland plate they're going through? If so it doesn't look like its been slotted for Eddie currents, could be a possible cause of heating the cables up over the years as the deteriation seems pretty constant on all conductors.....

 

[Engineer54]

I've just arrived on site. I'm working nights. the cables look like swa. I can see the armour. for about 8m the cables run through a boiler house. I've just took a reading of 60a and in the boiler house they're warm to touch.

If they are SWA cables then i have no idea why they are going through a pitch sealing chamber!!! If that is the case, the PVC tape on the tails are probably because they couldn't, (or couldn't be bothered) to orientate the phase colours onto the connections...

 

[johnboy6083]

I've just arrived on site. I'm working nights. the cables look like swa. I can see the armour. for about 8m the cables run through a boiler house. I've just took a reading of 60a and in the boiler house they're warm to touch.

Ive seen old cables that are PILC, but still have steel wire amour, over the lead. Ive also seen tape armour too. These cables musty have been over 40 years old though, and were lying at the bottom of a cable trench, disconnected.

 

[plugsandsparks]

any idea what temp this stuff melts at ? Assume its higher than the rated temp of the cable insulation, what does this mean for the state of the cable insulation ?:glasses2:

 

[Engineer54]

Ive seen old cables that are PILC, but still have steel wire amour, over the lead. Ive also seen tape armour too. These cables musty have been over 40 years old though, and were lying at the bottom of a cable trench, disconnected.

You talking about ''wave form'' armouring?? Those steel tape cables were a REAL bugger to terminate ... lol!!!

 

[UNG]

I think I would be getting a non contact thermometer out and taking some temperature readings especially during the day when the load is at it's peak

 

[Guest55]

You talking about ''wave form'' armouring?? Those steel tape cables were a REAL bugger to terminate ... lol!!!

dno's used waveform alu cables for a while
but it was a shortlived fad lol.
but they are a relatively new cable that doesnt need pitch sealing so i still think its a 50 odd year old lead with an swa covering.