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drying out cables

13K views 42 replies 18 participants last post by  Big John 
Most electricians would choose NOT to re use wet cables,
Due mainly to legal liability issues,
But if you must ! Leave them out in the sun for at least a week.
We pulled in 15kv cables yesterday and the amount of water that came out of the conduit was enough to fill a small pool. The new cables tested out.

The old cables (in a parallel conduit) had been in there for years and were only replaced as it was a job spec for a site upgrade
 
whats the readout you are getting exactly?
If we are talking direct short like 0 ohms then that would be a first for me from moisture.
Sure ive had moisture give not ideal readings but ive never seen a direct short from it.

I'd check the connector first and make sure the connector "teeth" actually grabbed ahold of the armor and didnt grab the cable instead.

just curious, how are you testing it? at what voltage?
With cable I cannot remember a "0" reading with a megger, but in busway and switchboards I have.
 
99% of the medium and high voltage failures I see are in the terminations. If there's any doubt, and it's at all possible, cut off the terms and re-test.

It's why I always have to laugh when we're asked to do a cable hipot on commissioning prior to the installation of the stress cones: If it's gonna fail, it's gonna fail because some screws up the terminations.

That said, while I've successfully dried a lot of equipment, never MV cable, and it'd be interesting to know if that's even possible?

We have had ends get wet cut off, splice on new piece, reterminate, test
 
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