Need help buying a cable

[DiyNutJob]

I want to replace a badly degraded 4 wire electric cable. The cable has blue, black, brown, and earth wires. Outer jacket is white. The conductor is stranded steel. The diameter of the individual wires with jacket is similar to those found in a 13A flex. The mains supply to the appliance is protected by a 3A fuse. I need the cable to be heat resistant.

Can anyone please tell me what this kind of cable is called?

 

[chivers67]

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Index/Flex_White_2/index.html

https://www.edwardes.co.uk/categori...093y-3094y-and-3095y?category=p6zzxq6r&page=1

 

[BS3036]

The conductor is stranded steel

Probably copper...

 

[DiyNutJob]

Probably copper...

Definitely steel, very stiff and hard to twist. The appliance is 20-30 years old. Maybe steel is used back in the day, like the ancient molex wires in my PC.

Obviously, steel has more strength. Would I be going under-spec if I use copper?

 

[plugwash]

Do you have a picture of this cable? can you tell us what it's being used for?

steel is practically unheard of for conductors (though it is used for armouring), aluminium is possible but relatively unlikely. Tinned copper is quite likely.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I want to replace a badly degraded 4 wire electric cable. The cable has blue, black, brown, and earth wires. Outer jacket is white. The conductor is stranded steel. The diameter of the individual wires with jacket is similar to those found in a 13A flex. The mains supply to the appliance is protected by a 3A fuse. I need the cable to be heat resistant.

So far as I am aware, only the Chinese used steel as a cable conductor, copper coated and then only in the very cheapest low current devices. What sort of appliance is it exactly?

 

[chivers67]

Obviously, steel has more strength. Would I be going under-spec if I use copper?

Copper conducts better than Steel, so no.

Ranking Metal % Conductivity*
1 Silver (Pure) 105%
2 Copper 100%
3 Gold (Pure) 70%
4 Aluminium 61%
5 Brass 28%
6 Zinc 27%
7 Nickel 22%
8 Iron (Pure) 17%
9 Tin 15%
10 Phosphor Bronze 15%
11 Steel (Stainless included) 3-15%
12 Lead (Pure) 7%
13 Nickel Aluminium Bronze 7%

 

[xm77]

Old imperial size house wiring cable was tinned copper.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Copper conducts better than Steel, so no.

Yes if the intended purpose was for higher mechanical strength.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes if the intended purpose was for higher mechanical strength.

Openreach used to use copper coated steel, for the drop wire from pole to house, for it's strength - but that was a very low current application. The OP mention an 'appliance' with a 3amp fuse, presumably a mains appliance - it seems highly unlikely such an appliance would use steel wire.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes if the intended purpose was for higher mechanical strength.

Let us know when you find some.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Openreach used to use copper coated steel, for the drop wire from pole to house, for it's strength - but that was a very low current application. The OP mention an 'appliance' with a 3amp fuse, presumably a mains appliance - it seems highly unlikely such an appliance would use steel wire.

It's highly unlikely I would have mistaken copper for steel. They don't have the same tensile strength. In fact I would rate copper to have no tensile strength at all. The wires strands are silver in colour and stiff. To me, I would put copper in the same feel as tin.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Let us know when you find some.

Sounds like there's no such thing in retail? Saves me looking then. Could be manufacturer's proprietary design, or just regular cable fashionable at the time -something the chinese would copy years later.

 

[DiyNutJob]

I just read tinning strengthens copper, and adds heat resistance. This could be it. Where can I buy 4 core tinned copper conductor cable with blue, black, brown, yellow+green jacketed cores?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I just read tinning strengthens copper, and adds heat resistance. This could be it. Where can I buy 4 core tinned copper conductor cable with blue, black, brown, yellow+green jacketed cores?

Well, I think that is unlikely, stranded are frequently tinned. The heat resistance is more likely to be in the insulation, that the conductors. You will find four core/three core and earth on Ebay, but you still haven't explained what the 'appliance' is?