Experience with XLPE or PVC

[SirLouen]

I've never had an XLPE cable on my hands. Anyone that has experience with XLPE cable and PVC, can tell me if XLPE is slightly less thick than PVC?

For example, for a 6 mm2 cable in PVC and a 10 mm2 cable in XLPE, could I say they are almost the same (XLPE slightly thicker, but not as thick as a 10 mm2 PVC cable)

Today I was checking a cable, and to my eye it felt slightly slimmer than I'm used to but the owner told me with the hand in the heart that it was 10 mm2, but I could not trust it, so I picked two PVC 6 mm2 and 10 mm2 I had in the car and the cable was exactly in the middle in thickness (I did not had the tools to measure it), and this freaked me out, because at least in my country is very rare to find cables in the middle of 6 and 10 mm2 (at least in the popular shops).

So, my conclusion was that MAYBE it was XLPE, but this was just a supposition.

 

[Fleeting]

XLPE (Cross Linked Polyethylene) insulation can be thinner than PVC, the easiest way to tell the difference is that PVC readily burns whilst XLPE does not. The actual copper conductor csa should be the same.

 

[binky]

Virtually all SWA cable in the UK is xlpe these days. It's higher thermal properties means it can carry a higher current. So most wholesalers stock it in preference, as most sparkies appreciate it means you can use a smaller cable, which is easier to work with and therefore it's cheaper due to the cost of copper.

 

[Andy™]

XLPE insulation is thinner than PVC. sometimes it looks / feels too thin

 

[Fleeting]

Virtually all SWA cable in the UK is xlpe these days. It's higher thermal properties means it can carry a higher current. So most wholesalers stock it in preference, as most sparkies appreciate it means you can use a smaller cable, which is easier to work with and therefore it's cheaper due to the cost of copper.

It can only carry higher currents if the points of termination are suitably rated otherwise you use Table 4D4A the same as for PVC insulation.

 

[binky]

It can only carry higher currents if the points of termination are suitably rated otherwise you use Table 4D4A the same as for PVC insulation.

True

 

[SirLouen]

XLPE insulation is thinner than PVC. sometimes it looks / feels too thin

Since I did not have any equipment, only the two 6 and 10 mm2 pieces of cable, I shoot some photos and then I scaled it.

If I compare the incognito cable with the 6mm the scale was 0.85:1-0.9:1
And if I compared the incognito cable with the 10mm, the scale was 1.10:1-1.15:1

So there were two options:
A) The cable was some sort of super thick 6mm PVC
B) There is a cover component I've never used, that is not PVC, but is thinner than my PVC cable so it was a 10mm into such component.

Then I was researching and I found the XLPE and this is why I was asking, if XLPE is thinner than PVC. Maybe that XLPE is the reason of why that cable 10mm cable was thinner than mine.

But now I have a massive intrigue, this week I will go there to check with some tools and my caliper to check if the copper is 6 or 10. I have a hunch it will be 6 mm with a super thick PVC, but cannot be 100% sure because the trust on the guy that put that cable from 1 to 10 is -20. I'm 100% confident that that cable is not compliant, 6mm cable with a 40A main breaker.

Here is one photo of the 3, from top to bottom, 6mm, incognito, 10mm

 

[Andy™]

have you looked pon the outer sheath, most SWA have the cores/csa on the side

 

[SirLouen]

have you looked pon the outer sheath, most SWA have the cores/csa on the side

I think the info is the hose. But the hose was removed, so I can only access the hose within the tube (and the hose doesn't have more length, to pull it out of the tube). The 2 cables inside the hose are 2x6 or 2x10.

 

[SirLouen]

Today I've measured with a caliper the whole cable and it's exactly 5.1 mm. AFAIK 10mm2 are 3.6mm without the protection so basically I Have to assume that the protection width is around 0.75mm. According to some XLPE grids I've seen, this measure seems to be acceptable to fit under the 10mm2, because otherwise, we would be talking about 1,15mm for the protection, which is more related to PVC.