[jfguerrero1]

Question for Master Electricians on forum. I am attaching 3 pictures of electrical wiring cables. Can these be fixed by applying some sort of specialty electrical tape? Or does the entire cable need to be replaced? The first 2 pictures (white) are of 12/3 cable, and the black is 6/3 cable. Thank you in advance for your replies.

If I need to 'replace' the 6/3 cable, can I replace it with 4/3 cable without doing any other updates to the main or subpanels?

 

[jfguerrero1]

I found this on Lowe's site: Scotch 2228 Rubber Mastic. Could this be a solution?

Scotch® 2228 Rubber Mastic Tape is a conformable self–fusing rubber electrical insulating and sealing tape. Scotch 2228 consists of an ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) backing coated with an aggressive, temperature-stable mastic adhesive. The tape is made 65 mils (1,65 mm) thick for quick application build-up. It is designed for electrical insulating and moisture sealing applications. Scotch 2228 can be used on copper or aluminum conductors rated at 90°C, with an emergency overload rating of 130°C. It offers excellent resistance to moisture and ultraviolet exposure and is intended for both indoor and weather exposed outdoor applications.

~Conformable for application over irregular surfaces
~Compatible with solid dielectric cable insulations
~Self-fusing and flexible over wide temperature range
~Excellent weather and moisture resistance
~Excellent adhesion and sealing characteristics with copper, aluminum and power cable jacket materials
~Thick construction allows quick application build-up and padding over irregular connections
~Made in the USA

 

[Missouri Bound]

As long as the insulation on the wire itself is intact you can tape it up.
I cannot tell by the first picture, but it looks like the wire itself may be exposed.
If it is you should replace it.
You can also cut back the wires and install 2 junction boxes and make a splice that way.
As long as the junction boxes can be accessed you should be OK.
As far as upgrading to a larger gauge wire that won't be an issue.
You cannot go the other way without changing the supplying breaker.
Is that 6/3 for a range?

 

[jfguerrero1]

Thank you Missouri Bound. The wires in the first picture are not exposed. Whatever cut it only got the jacket. The wires are between 1st and 2nd story floors with no access. I don't want to put an access panel, or box in the ceiling so if I can tape it I would rather do that then have to replace it (so not to have to put the junction boxes in with access through the 1st floor ceiling).

The 6/3 is the main cable coming in from the main panel to the subpanel. House built in 1991. Still okay to simply tape it? I was confused on this as my research shows me that the 6/3 cable has a max Ampere rating of 55. There are 2 other breakers on the main panel that go to the AC and Dryer (40 and 30 2 pole breakers on each). Then there is a 60 amp and 100 amp 2-pole breaker that feeds into the subpanel.

 

[Oldmaster]

One thing to consider is that this could be an ongoing situation unless you can get rid of the rodents. Squirrels did considerable damage to cables in my house. Constant battle.

 

[jfguerrero1]

Thank you Oldmaster. It was racoons. They are now gone - unfortunately they did a "friendly relocation". I would have made hats out of them. They will be my eternal enemies.

 

[lenaitch]

The wires are between 1st and 2nd story floors with no access.

How would you plan to get in and tape it?

 

[Missouri Bound]

The wires are between 1st and 2nd story floors with no access.

How would you plan to get in and tape it?

Yeah.....good question.

 

[dmxtothemax]

carefully examine the damaged area,
If it is just the primary insulation that is damaged,
And there is no damage to the actual copper conductors ?
Then it is usually ok to tape it up,
But remember the insulation you replace it with,
should be equal thickness as per the original.
So dont replace 2mm of insulation with just 1mm
like for like !
And please use good quality electrical tape
Not Wal mart special

:glasses:

 

[FrodoOne]

"The tape is made 65 mils (1.65 mm)" is a quite unfortunate "equation".

At first glance, "mils" may seem to be SI (Metric) but they are actually a decimalization (well, a thousandth) of an Inch !

65 mils is 65 * 1/1000 of an inch
1/1000 Inch = 0.0254 mm
65 mils = 0.651 mm

At this level of thickness/thinness it is necessary to use Thousandths
It would be much better to use SI for this, as you MUST do for Voltage, Current and Resistance.

So, the tape concerned is 1.65 mm in thickness - or 1651 µm in thickness, because the Metric System is Better by a Thousand.

Please see

 

[jfguerrero1]

Good Morning lenaitch and Missouri Bound. I actually had already removed portions of the sheet rock on the ceiling of the first floor because there was a problem with the AC airflow. This led the the discovery that the raccons had damaged the flexduct and the electrical wiring. That's how I found the damage, but I want a fix that does not require me to put access points into the ceiling for the splicing, junction boxes on the ceiling (of 1st floor).

 

[jfguerrero1]

Thank you FrodoOne. I calculate that I would have to wrap the tape 5 times, based on the 65 mil thickness of the tape, to get it to a 1/8 inch thickness; which is thicker than the original/existing jacket wrap of the cable.

 

[RAL238]

Thank you FrodoOne. I calculate that I would have to wrap the tape 5 times, based on the 65 mil thickness of the tape, to get it to a 1/8 inch thickness; which is thicker than the original/existing jacket wrap of the cable.

Two wraps of tape should give you 1/8" thickness.

1/8" = 0.125"

0.125 / 0.065 = 1.92 wraps

 

[jfguerrero1]

RAL238, you are a mathematician. You are correct. Two wraps.

 

[CodeMatters]

Like others have said, it's fine to tape it up if only the outside sheath is
damaged. Another option (if only the outside sheath is damaged) is to
take the sheath off a scrap piece of cable, slice it lengthwise, place it
around the damaged section of cable and tape it in place. Not really
necessary, but not a bad idea either.

 

[jfguerrero1]

Thank you CodeMatters. I don't have any scrap cable, but that is a good idea for future problems.