SWA sheath damage

[seasickstevie]

Called out to an underground SWA cable (6mm) having had a small piece of outer sheath sliced off by a garden spade........ Well it was a digger actually.

Steel wire only superficially marked, and no reason to suspect that the insulation or cores were in anyway damaged. I decided a good helping of heavy duty Gaffa tape was all it needed.

Ideally it would have been good to do cont & insulation tests, but really not needed going on appearance.

What would others have done?

 

[Adam_151]

The only thing to worry about is if the SWA is the sole earth*, that if the tape repair isn't perfect and water gets in, it'll rust away and eventually you'll have no earth


*At least with a core as earth, not only do you still have an earth if it rusts, but if both ends are probably glanded then both parts of the armour are earthed from each end.

 

[plugwash]

IMO self amalgamating tape would have been a much better choice than gaffer tape.

 

[seasickstevie]

Thanks for replies.

Yes it is 3-core. So not dependent on SWA.

And on reflection, I'll take your advise plugwash and go back with self-amalgamating tape before it's back-filled.

 

[donrkebab]

Why not use the correct product?

http://www.jointingtech.co.uk/category.asp?categoryID=494

Or a resin cast joint box.

 

[Monkeh]

Those are hugely expensive and only seem to be for large sizes..

Clean it thoroughly and wrap it with self amalgamating tape. It shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Lectrician]

I would prefer to see a small resin joint used - rough up the sheath with some emery paper or a file and put the joint directly around the cable - no need to strip further.

Either that, or some decent self amalgamating tape.

 

[RF Lighting]

Another vote for a resin joint.

 

[jeepmadmike]

Wish I taken a picture of the 185 4c a 50tonne swing shovel had "nipped" now

But back to this post has anyone used those gel type joints yet?

 

[RF Lighting]

I've used that 'magic gel' as an easy repair to a buried gewiss box used to joint flex that had filled with water. Its only been a couple of months but so far it's been fine.

I'd still rather stick with resin joints for armoured as they are proven to work and they offer mechanical protection to the joint too.

 

[streetlighter]

On the highways our private supply network cables are often nicked by careless groundworks contractors. We get called to attend and the usual repair to a nicked sheath would be to fit a joint shell over and fill with resin.