![]() ![]() How do you prevent heat issues from impacting conductors? See if the wire you’re using for the job has a higher ampacity than what you expect the wire to carry. The ambient temperature of the air around the cable can dictate how the conductor and insulation perform, especially in tight spots like conduits where wire size is critical to the installation’s overall safety. As heat is generated, it needs somewhere to go – if it doesn’t dissipate fast enough or if too much heat gets built up, it could damage the wire or its insulation.īesides the heat that naturally builds up in a conductor during regular use, other factors can impact the ampacity of a wire, including where you install them. ![]() When electricity is carried by a conductor, it generates heat as a by-product. Wire gauges also relate to carrying capacity, telling us how much current a copper conductor can safely carry without damaging itself or its insulation. Understanding how AWG sizing works goes a long way toward helping answer other common electrical questions, including how much current it can safely handle. MCM sizing starts at 250 kcmil – slightly larger than a 4/0 wire. MCM and kcmil can be used interchangeably, but most people are familiar with MCM measurements. When a wire is larger than 0000, it has to be measured in MCM (thousands of circular mils), or kcmil. Size charts then correspond to the wire’s diameter using a scale ranging from #40 (a super fine wire with a diameter of. But what do all the numbers mean?Ī wire is sized by cutting a cross-section of AWG-sized wire and measuring its diameter. How Does Wire Gauging Work?Ĭopper wire is sized using the American Wire Gauge, or AWG. We’ll stick with AWG for this article since that’s the gauging Kris-Tech uses to produce its copper wire products. In other countries overseas, like Britain, you might see the now withdrawn Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) or the more widely used IEC 60228, the dominant gauge sizing system found in most of the world. If you’re in the United States or Canada, you’re probably familiar with the American Wire Gauge (AWG) wire sizes. Some countries have different ways of measuring electrical wire size, making it tough to standardize one set of measurements. Let’s get this out of the way wire sizes can be confusing. ![]()
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