ECN Forum Forums Technical Discussion Electrical Theory and Applications old Industrial wiring

HI Everyone, I am trying to find out if a large condutor that I salvaged recently for scrap has asbestos in the outer wrapping,
I tried to research it on the net,
It was a 400 amp service to a overhead bus,
I dont know the age but I wiil go 40-50 years plus, it looks like a cloth outer wrap and right under that is a very dry powdery tape type material, then the usual looking insulation very old and cracked all over after rolling it up.
I planned on skinning it and selling it for scrap but I am concerned for the possible health risks.
Thanks Shelby

No way that could be totally oxidized lead?

http://cgi.ebay.com/1951-General-El...Z6610205131QQcategoryZ4259QQcmdZViewItem

Another coincidence: I was cleaning out a cabinet at work today. It had a ton of old Supervisory parts in it. Then I noticed an almost full spool of wire with cloth insullation on it. The label said GE Deltabeston type AF fixture wire. The only useful link I found to "Deltabeston" was this catalog on sale on Ebay which confirmed my suspicions. The spool was date stamped 1970.
Joe


[This message has been edited by JoeTestingEngr (edited 03-23-2006).]

Not that I'm saying you should throw caution to the wind, but being exposed to something containing asbestos is not inherently hazardous. It's not like it's radioactive or something. The hazard comes from the fact that the asbestos has to be inhaled where, depending on what type it is, it can lodge in your lungs.

I dare say that handling a wire made with a sheath of, for example, some encapsulated chrysotile asbestos, poses very little, if any, health hazard.

It's certainly a far cry from the WWII ship builders who were exposed to enormous quantities of airborne crocidolite asbestos, which unfortinately caused a variety of serious heath problems.

-John