Is this some kind of armoured cable?

tcarnell · 22 Jul 2016

Hi all,

A friend of mine is intending to replace some electrics in his garage but when he looked at the cable which comes up to the old fusebox it appears to be some sort of armoured cable.

I took 3 photos of a short section of it and I'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on what it is.

I've seen modern armoured cable, but never anything like this. The conductors are contained in an insulating material within a copper tube. Does this tube act as the earth?
The tube is then contained in a PVC sleeve which has been removed for the photos.

Also it seems very light weight wiring for both power and lights (which is what it's been running since the bungalow was built in the 60s).

All help and advice is gratefully received.

All the best,
Tony.

EFLImpudence · 22 Jul 2016

You should not have cut it. You will need a specialist to reconnect it.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=micc+cable

endecotp · 22 Jul 2016

MICC, aka "pyro".

nflowers · 22 Jul 2016

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral-insulated_copper-clad_cable

ban-all-sheds · 22 Jul 2016

http://www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:MICC

Steve · 22 Jul 2016

MICC, mineral insulated copper clad cable. Far superior in almost every way to SWA cables they they fit today. The only way SWA is better today is that many electricians (domestic at least) won't have a clue how to terminate MICC today! By the way, the cable end absorbs moisture, so unless you have a lot of slack on it, you may need to replace it as water is a poor insulator!

deadshort · 22 Jul 2016

tcarnell said:
it appears to be some sort of armoured cable.

Yes, it was

DS

ban-all-sheds · 22 Jul 2016

Steve said:
By the way, the cable end absorbs moisture, so unless you have a lot of slack on it, you may need to replace it as water is a poor insulator!

I suspect it is now beyond salvage.

It may have been perfectly sound, but having been sawed into by people who had no idea what they were doing, that's probably now irrelevant.

But, depending on what "intending to replace some electrics in his garage" actually means, the pyro may always have been going to be irrelevant anyway.