Hey guys
I have about 500' of 3/0, and 500' of 350 MCM i need to mark red, white and blue. Thats a LOT of tape. I have not installed the wires yet so I attempted to use spray paint. We tested out a can of Krylon Flat white, and it looked okay, but did not work so well. Took about two cans to do 80 feet. Can I get any special type of spray paint designed to work with electrical wires?
On wire bigger than #6 you only need to identify the ends near the terminations. Be sure you do it before you pull in the wire so you are sure you get the same wire on each end.
I've used a black sharpie to re-identify a white switch leg in a pinch before..., but I've yet to re-identify 500' of anything. I'm just curious GDKNY why you would need to color the entire run? I know NYC has a lot of their own oddities when it comes to code amendments.
Greg,
Do you guys in the US not have heat-shrink tubing?
It comes in all sorts of pretty colours and thin and thick-walled, the thick walled stuff is adhesive lined too.
Google Raychem.
Sure we have heat shrink but I don't see it used to reidentify wires. I have heard of being used to repair cracked insulation in ceiling boxes.
I have never been sure how many layers of heat shrink you would need to be "equivalent to that of the conductors" per 110.14(B)
We use heatshrink all the time to color-code cable lengths, attach identifying marks, etc. in the entertainment industry.
I'd try inks. Ink marking of wire is an industrial process. See, for example:
http://www.taymer.com/html/cable_marking_machines__hot_st.htmlSo, suitable inks exist. Felt tip spirit based markers might do the trick. Whether you can get white is questionable though.
For application on small quantities of wire, a professional system is not going to be economic. The simplest way might be to build a simple spool to spool manual crank winder and have a helper daub the ink on the wire as it goes past with a brush, an airbrush or a felt tip.
On wire bigger than #6 you only need to identify the ends near the terminations. Be sure you do it before you pull in the wire so you are sure you get the same wire on each end.
Not in NYC you can't. Most inspectors do not accept striping of the wires either. (taping it like a candy cane for example).
I've used a black sharpie to re-identify a white switch leg in a pinch before..., but I've yet to re-identify 500' of anything. I'm just curious GDKNY why you would need to color the entire run? I know NYC has a lot of their own oddities when it comes to code amendments.
We're doing a 3 Phase, 1200A service for a strip of businesses. All the wires from the switches, in the troughs and all the enclosures are visible from end to end. And like you said, its NYC.
I think that colored wire in the sizes (3/0, 350KCM) you mention are a fairly recent product.
What did the NYC inspectors accept in the past?
I thought NYC was on the NEC now.
If they really want an unblemished color along the entire length of the wire I am not sure exactly what kind of paint will work. The teflon outer jacket on THHN is not going to hold any paint I know of that well. Pulling it will result in black "stripes".
CME has colored insulation up to 1000kcmil, if it's any help for the next job.
![[Linked Image from electrical-photos.com]](https://www.electrical-photos.com/data/500/medium/THHN-THWN_600v_THWN_1247325926579.png)
CME Wire To tell you the truth, I really can't think of another way to re-identify this much wire, beyond what you're doing with the spray paint... Painting it in layers on the spools seems like the most efficient way to me.
At a certain point a pedantic inspector might ask if that insulation was evaluated when exposed to that paint.
What was the solvent in the paint? Will it affect the insulation?
These are the kinds of questions that get asked when people come up with improvised pulling lubes anyway.
It's not so much that the wire has to be identified along the entire length; rather, it's the (often ignored) requirement that the neutral be marked at every junction, splice, and pull point. Ever try to guess exactly which 3" of wire will end up in the LB?
"Painting" is used by the NEC as a verb ... and not as a noun. Thus, while it brings to mind an image of someone sitting there with a little jar of paint and a small brush, the term is also an accurate description of what you do when you run over the insulation with a marking pen.
I think we're going to wind up changing our practices, and making shrink tube our 'default' marking method. Why? Because the newer, slicker wire simply doesn't hold tape well. We may even have to resort to finding a way to remove the outer nylon cover.
Why do you think you need to identify wires >6ga in conduit bodies if you are not terminating or splicing in there?
For grounded circuit conductors (neutrals)
200.6(B)(3)At the time of installation, by a distinctive white or gray marking at its terminations. This marking shall encircle the conductor or insulation.
For EGCs
250.119(A)(A) Conductors Larger Than 6 AWG. Equipment grounding conductors larger than 6 AWG shall comply with 250.119(A)(1) and (A)(2).
(1) An insulated or covered conductor larger than 6 AWG shall be permitted, at the time of installation, to be permanently identified as an equipment grounding conductor at each end and at every point where the conductor is accessible.
Exception: Conductors larger than 6 AWG shall not be required to be marked in conduit bodies that contain no splices or unused hubs.
(2) Identification shall encircle the conductor and shall be accomplished by one of the following:
a. Stripping the insulation or covering from the entire exposed length
b. Coloring the insulation or covering green at the termination
c. Marking the insulation or covering with green tape or green adhesive labels at the termination
As you cite, 250.119 does say 'where the conductor is accessible.' This certainly seems to include every pull box and LB, regardless of whether there are any splices or connections made.
Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep if the wires are marked only at their ends. Yet, the requirement - limited as it may be - is there.
As for buying colored wire in anything besides reel quantities of the smaller sizes, that seems to be something to be determined by the parts house. While I cannot speak for other areas, one can forget about getting lengths cut in any color but black in Reno.
Reno,
Read the exception:
"Exception: Conductors larger than 6 AWG shall not be required to be marked in conduit bodies that contain no splices or unused hubs."
An LB is a conduit body.
Hey everyone-I ended up getting fairly decent results with the spray paint. Looks pretty good actually, and I will try and get some pictures up sometime this week. Thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it!
I've become a big fan of Southwire's "Sim-Pull" products. I've only worked with it myself one time, but it sure looks great and does pull easily just like they say it does.
They offer just about all colors and sizes. The only problem is that many supply houses around here don't stock it. It seems that most orders must be placed in advance and the cable is cut/reeled at the factory, then drop shipped. That adds to the cost and delivery time, but like I said, it sure looks nice.
Not to mention that there is zero room for error as opposed to tape or paint marking.
About a month ago I added a 100A subpanel for a relative in his backyard storage/workshop. He bought the wire at Home Depot and it was Sim-pull marked. The insulation certainly felt slicker than the Cerro & AIW I'm used to getting at work. It was a 225' run in 1½" PVC 40, 3 X #1's, 2 90° & about 20° of sweep spread through the run...
We still needed Aqua-gel around half through