Lockdown garage clearout discovery

[Evans Electric]

I seem to remember Wrexhams  appearing as a cheaper option .   Didn't they end up  with just  one  manufacturer  of MICC  cable  ,  Pyro disappeared or was bought out by BICC . 

 

[kerching]

There is a firm in Newcastle making Pyro now.  I was talking to,them at a trade show a few years ago

called the MICC group

i congratulated them on their company logo and they reckoned nobody else had noticed its subtlety



if you know, you know!

 

[kerching]

There is a firm in Newcastle making Pyro now.  I was talking to,them at a trade show a few years ago

called the MICC group

i congratulated them on their company logo and they reckoned nobody else had noticed its subtlety

View attachment 10757

if you know, you know!

just googled.   Wrexham are still,going

 

[roys]

That is a good logo

 

[kerching]

That is a good logo

I was wandering around the exhibition and it was the first thing I noticed on the stand

apparentlynWrexham is the onl UK based MI manufacturer now, according to,their website

todays mission is to try and find an AlCuMIC end for @Evans Electric

and assemble   a summerhouse for my mother

 

[UNG]

I may have to,correct myself.....found a pack of Wrexham Cables stuff.  Was this the forerunner of CEFs Doncaster Cables?

and was it Wrexhams that were not Ex approved. Only just remembered seeing them , but now are a bit inaccessible to confirm!

ISTR the reason Wrexham MI wasn't Ex approved was it due to it not being a solid drawn cable. You generally could tell Wrexham mineral from other types when you stripped it especially if the seam weld had not been properly annealed. The AEI MI could be identified by the insulation which was silicon based to alleviate the damp problems

I seem to remember Wrexhams  appearing as a cheaper option .   Didn't they end up  with just  one  manufacturer  of MICC  cable  ,  Pyro disappeared or was bought out by BICC . 

I remember ordering BICC Pyrotenax and the wholesaler trying to substitute it with Wrexham mineral absolute pain when the job was specced as Pyrotenax

It looks like there are still a number of companies manufacturing MICC when BICC sold off it's cable divisions I think TYCO bought the Pyrotenax brand although that now appears to be part of nVent's portfolio of products, along with Wrexham there is also AEI and MICC Ltd, apart from Wrexham they are all based up in the North East

There is a firm in Newcastle making Pyro now.  I was talking to,them at a trade show a few years ago

called the MICC group

i congratulated them on their company logo and they reckoned nobody else had noticed its subtlety

View attachment 10757

if you know, you know!

Looks like it's management is former BICC employees

 

[phil d]

I did a lot of pyro stuff just after coming out of my time, the firm I was working for were really pulling some strokes, all the cables were specified by certain makers and had to be in 500mtr drums because they didn't want joints in the trunking and there was miles of it. They got around the cable makes by stating that the spec'd makers couldn't supply the cables in time, iirc there was a month lead time. Anyway they used cheaper stuff and used to hide the joints in the trunking, but the pyro was spec'd BICC, but again they pulled some stroke and ended up using the Wrexham stuff, it quickly became known as 'my mums' pyro, (remember the cheap food range) because it was just horrible stuff.

I had two good experiences with BICC, a girl I went out with, her father worked at BI, he was actually in charge of producing crimp tools when the ratchet stuff was just appearing, it was hellishly expensive! Well we got chatting over a beer one night and he said he'd get me some crimpers from work, "we'll see" I thought. Anyway a couple of days later he brings home not only about 3 different types of crimper, but also a big steel box with a red, yellow, and blue ratchet crimp tool in it, it had loads of compartments full of all types of crimps, "oh, I brought a few spares in case you run out" he said, handing me a carrier bag that was full of packets of crimp terminals, I never bought any for years!

The second one came when I moved house, my car got broken into and a load of tools went, then a couple of weeks later a neighbour asked me to run power to his shed and could I do it in pyro, I said I could but it would be expensive at which point he said pyro was cheaper than SWA! He then went on to tell me that he worked at BICC, and could get it for nothing, I told him that the only problem was my pyro gear had been nicked out of the car and he said not to worry, he'd 'borrow' some from work.

I did the job it was only about 10 mtrs run, one socket and a light, so it went in in 2.5 clipped along the house wall. The pyro tools were all brand new, joistripper, ratchet pot wrench, latest crimp tool, all still in the boxes. When I'd done not only did he pay me but he gave me all the pyro tools, the left over pots, glands, seals and shrouds, and what was left of the 100mtr coil of pyro, not a bad result.