Splice damaged range cable to repair?
I recently discovered that rats have chewed through the insulation on the heavy cable feeding my electric range. The copper is showing on the white wire though not the hot wires. The cable is old-ish (has plastic insulation on the individual wires but shiny paper-ish insulation round the whole lot). Breaker is 40A.
I have access to the cable both sides of the damaged area so I could in theory splice in a piece of new cable, with accessible junction boxes at either end of the new section, but I’m not sure whether there are special requirements/junction boxes/connectors needed for a cable this size. I have done a fair amount of wiring work but only with water heater, lighting and receptacle circuits. The electrical books I have include plenty of information on cables etc for new work but nothing about joining cables this size in a junction box.
Is splicing a new section practical, or should I be looking at replacing the whole cable run?
Kevin
Replies
Are you sure the little bastards haven't chewed up any other areas of the cable run?
My experience has been with fox squirrels. And oddly, like you-they knew the white wire.
If no other damage, cut the cable shorter and install a junction box (if there wasn't one there b/4). Either a range recept and install the appropriate cord on the range. Or a box and make up the junction in there with the appropriate scotch locks-running a new whip to the range and direct wire.
edit: as I reread I notice your cable is old. Might be a good time to upgrade the lot with the appropriate size cable.
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Edited 11/30/2008 5:28 pm ET by calvin
Some inspectors don't allow splices in range cables, though I don't know of anything in the code that explicitly prohibits it.
Frankly, if it were my home, and I were not setting it up to sell, nor was I planning to cover up the damaged area with something expensive, I'd just wrap it well with electrical tape. Not code, but perfectly safe (until the rats get in there again, and assuming they haven't seriously nicked the copper).
If you do pull a new wire, note that current code requires a 4-wire cable -- hot/hot/neutral/ground -- and a corresponding 4-wire socket (change the pigtail on the range if the current one is 3-wire). (This may be a motivation to change out the cable.)
Safe, only if you are absolutely sure that the neutral was the only one chewed up. I do not recall the NEC prohibiting a junction for a range run, as long as the j-boxes remained accessible. Either way, if your electrical inspector (not home inspector) doesn't like it, you had better just re-run the cable. I'd bet he'd rather see a j-box than electrical tape.
Disclaimer: I am NOT an electrician. He said that this was an older installation and did not say how many conductors. Could this be a two conductor 220 V with no neutral and maybe not even a ground. If so, then the white wire may very well be hot. I've seen it on some old stuff.
More likely an old 3-conductor setup, with combo neutral/ground. I think the neutral is generally insulated in this setup, but don't know for sure.
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. --Wilhelm Stekel
OP said that they chewed the white wire but not the hot WIRES.BruceT
Yep, I'd just tape up my own cable also.
An put some blood thinner poison out in the same area also (assuming no pets or kids have access to the area).
Yeah, wouldn't want them rats to have a heart attack.
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. --Wilhelm Stekel
rats to have a heart attack
But they sure bleed to death internally real quick. Have found a few after they ate some, kinda looks like hanta virus unless the other rats ate parts of the dead rat.
BTW - have seen old lead sheath paper insulated telephone wire in HI where the local termites ate thru the lead to get at the paper!
Could always be the home is infested with ratbots - ya know the experimental robots that have an e-field sensor to find and outlet and plug into or even drill into a live wire??
You are talking about the short length between the wall and the range, aren't you? Is it hard-wired at the wall or is there a plug? Either way, you could disconnect the wire within the junction box in the back of the range, tape the bare wires with electrical tape, then slide a length of flexible metal conduit over the exposed length of cable with plastic non-chafing bushings at each end and re-connect to the range.
There's also plastic flex conduit that is split lengthwise to allow you to slip it over wires without disconnecting them. I don't know whether rodents find that kind of plastic as tasty as they do rubber, which is probably what the original sheathing was.
By the way, you'd better check the dishwasher drain hoses and washing machine hoses too for signs of chewing; even ABS waste lines and traps.
You might even consider getting rid of the rats.
If they likesd the old wire, they'll also chew the new wire.
Why not re-do the entire run ... and add that 4th wire at the same time?
I'd look to use some sort of metal conduit ... MC, flex, or even pipe.
When I was doing hurricane work in Puerto Rico we used, IIRC, UF cable in the walls, to resist rats. (Also routed it up high in the walls, vs down low near the baseboard.)(That UF was a b!tch to work with.)
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. --Wilhelm Stekel
Thanks very much for all the replies. The cable is modern enough to have 2 hot wires, neutral and ground, just the outer insulation is a bit old-fashioned looking. There is a plug-in tail from the range to the wall and that's OK - the chewed area is in the supply cable down below in the basement/crawlspace.
For now I have wrapped the chewed areas thoroughly with insulating tape and next year when I take apart the basement ceiling all the way along that side so I have access to the whole length of the cable, I'll replace the whole thing.
As to getting rid of the rats, I'm working on it - they are very common in the neighborhood (bush and a lake right close by, mostly old houses) so they are around outside all the time - I think the reason they chewed the cable is, I closed off some of their other access places so they had to make a new one!
Kevin