The Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) is warning of fake arctic cable which is used mainly in the supply of temporary power and is normally blue or yellow in colour – yellow indicating 100v and blue indicating 230v being distributed throughout the UK. With Winter now beginning to set in, warnings over fake cable are now being issued. The use of fake cable can have dire consequences including electric shock, fire and short circuit.
The main problem is these fake cables are not easy to detect and many professional electricians have unknowingly brought fake cable from their electrical wholesaler.
One way of testing whether the cable conductors are up to standard, is for your electrician to run an insulation resistance test on the cable. Unfortunately this is not a definitive answer due to the other issues that the ACI have found.
Tests carried out independently discovered that fake vs real arctic cable under test conditions where both cables were subjected to a cold bending test discovered that random samples of fake cable showed poor conductor resistance and the sheathing and insulation of the cables were found to deteriorate when subjected to the cold testing conditions.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to know if the cable the electrician is purchasing is real as many brands of arctic cable has no brand name or mark or origin.
The ACI recommend using only third party approved cable. To assist with finding approved cable products, the British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC) have launched a toolbar to assist with the finding of approved cable and manufacturers.
As an example, to assist with the sourcing of real arctic cable, the correct specification and table number must be used. In this case to source a cable suitable for use in conditions down to -25 C the cable would need to be compliant with BS 7919, Table 44 as found in BS 7540-3 publication 'Cables Guide to Use'. Using the information found, in this case BS 7919, Table 44, would be in-putted into the BASEC toolbar at http://www.basec.org.uk/ which then brings up a list of approved cable products.
For any suspect cable found , the installer will need to contact the ACI to arrange sample testing http://www.aci.org.uk/enquiry.asp