A look at Easycell(R) gel straight-through joints by BBC Cellpack after 6 years.

[six-point socket II]

Hi everyone!

A little over 6 years ago I had to repair and partly replace an electrical line coming from our basement feeding the garden & sheds.

Initially I wanted to replace the whole line, but that wasn't an option 6 years ago because I couldn't get the access needed for that. At least not within a feasible amount of time and without a lot of additional work afterwards.

So I opted to replace only a part of the line and repair the joint. I chose BBC Cellpack's "Easycell(R)" gel-technology straight-joint boxes for that repair. They come as box pre-packed with gel and a connector terminal. ->https://electricalproducts.cellpack.com/en/gel-technology/easycell/

They also now have an incredible gel-technology product line suiting the Wago 221 line of connectors that we all love. ->https://electricalproducts.cellpack.com/en/gel-technology/easy-protect/

This year was packed with many major refurbishment projects & one of them finally got me the access needed to replace the whole line. So it was a no-brainer to do it. That then lead to the interesting chance of taking out the Easycell(R) boxes and have a closer look at them after being buried and used for roughly 6 years.

When I buried them I did cover them just in case and for visibility if I had to dig again in that area - that cover removed they look pretty clean & sound.

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Cut out & on the table.

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Sideview. The gel neatly enclosed the cable. (1 picture, looked exactly the same on the remaining 3 sides)

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Let's open them.

Box 1

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Box 2

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As you can see, the cables & connectors are in absolute pristine condition. I was honestly impressed how well that worked - not to mention that over the 6 years we didn't have a single failure/issue with the garden & shed electrics.

Bonus:

I said before that I wanted to replace the whole line, and I did. And I did find what I expected speaking of the - until then not replaced - part. So here's the part (of the original line/cable) that I couldn't replace the first time I was working on this. It came out the conduit exactly like this. Since that was way oversized, my guess is some varmint (or whatever) had a go at it. Or the pre-owner damaged it while pulling it originally. It did hold up to an insulation resistance test at 250V back then, my guess is that 500V would have come back negative/ failed. When I thought of this, I sadly had already disposed of all the trash, so I couldn't do the experiment.

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Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Packard]

My house, built in 1953, is wired entirely with metal clad cable.  A pain to cut into, and routing is more difficult than the modern cable.  But it makes grounding easy, and rodents don’t like the taste of it.  They still sell it, so I guess there are situations where it is called for.  It’s more expensive and more difficult to work with than the white or yellow sheathed cable.  So probably to meet some arcane regulation.

 

[six-point socket II]

What I marked orange is actually some type of metal sheathing/ armoring. Fun fact: These cables are actually from the late sixties to early seventies, can't date them exactly because they are not original to the house, built in '66.

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Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[hdv]

I had to extend the sensor line for my robot mower a few years ago and opted to use gelboxes for that too (yeah, I know they are not really made for that). They weren't cheap, but they were recommended to me as being of good quality. Be that as it may, but those were definitely not of a quality anywhere near yours! In about 2 years they started leaking and I had to replace them. Now I have reverted back to using expoxy filled boxes. Works like a charm.

 

[six-point socket II]

Epoxy is "bombproof" and the industry gold standard, absolutely nothing wrong with going back to that.

In fact our utility did just that back in the beginning of this year, in front of the house on the supply side.

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My guess is, a lot of companies are giving the gel technology a shot, some might be getting it wrong. It can happen, luckily it was "just" the sensor line in your case - but still a pain to have to dig it back up I guess. Believe me, I can feel it.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Coen]

That must be a very, very rare review of the product.  [tongue] Nice job

Huh, did you connect blue to yellow/green?

The last circled crack in the outer mantle looks like a fresh crack; it's still clean white.

As for insulation tests; they are typically done with dc. Grid voltage of 230 Vac actually peaks at 325V at the peak of the sine wave, so if it holds 230 Vac, it definitely holds 250Vdc as well. In common... if a line holds 230Vac, you can switch to 350Vdc without any problem. In fact, some street lighting grids are switched from 230Vac to 350Vdc. Saving on replacing the cable is one of the reasons. Leakage is better manageable with DC.

I had to extend the sensor line for my robot mower a few years ago and opted to use gelboxes for that too (yeah, I know they are not really made for that). They weren't cheap, but they were recommended to me as being of good quality. Be that as it may, but those were definitely not of a quality anywhere near yours! In about 2 years they started leaking and I had to replace them. Now I have reverted back to using expoxy filled boxes. Works like a charm.

You mean the Wago Gelbox? Thos are not intended for subterranean use but for in above-ground junction boxes to protect against moisture / condensation / insects.

 

[mino]

That original white-y cable looks eearily like having a PVC outer sheating. I would guess that is why it broke and why some poor animal found it enticing ..

Over here these are forbidden to use in the ground for, like, forever. Definitely before 80s. Besides ecology, PVC degrades and becomes fragile. Furthermore it is not water-tight so will leak moisture inside the cable ... even in a building I have not seen PVC sheating in anything younger than 60+ years old.

This looks like someone took an "extension cord" cable and just put it in the ground ... Erm.

Those gell joints look very good though!
If one tightened the screw connectors properly, these will likely last a century or so. Definitely longer that the cable they are connecting will .. True set&forget stuff.

Thanks for the photos!

My house, built in 1953, is wired entirely with metal clad cable.  A pain to cut into, and routing is more difficult than the modern cable.  But it makes grounding easy, and rodents don’t like the taste of it.  They still sell it, so I guess there are situations where it is called for.  It’s more expensive and more difficult to work with than the white or yellow sheathed cable.  So probably to meet some arcane regulation.

These are useful when there is a risk if mechanical stress and where fire hazard is a big risk - I would assume wooden buildings.

At the time RCDs were either non-existent or non-reliable, using a metal clad cable was the best possible way to go. I have seen lot of these in old (think 1850s old) brick houses where the non-baked bricks were used so the wall were all the time moist and also the whole house "moved" over the year, making reliance on correct cable placement tricky. I guess these were used when putting the cables in metal tubes (the standard at the time) was not practical.

We call these here "pancéřované kabely", literally translates to "armored cables". They are still used in industrial applications where mechanical protection is needed.

 

[six-point socket II]

Huh, did you connect blue to yellow/green?

Yes, back then I did. And, yes, I know.

In that instance, the incoming "blue" was the "earth", not neutral. I traced it all the way back to the distribution panel back in the day and obviously used the correct color going on - knowing the remaining cable getting replaced at some point eventually anyway. I also documented it.

With these old installations, cables spliced in junction boxes that are not readily accessible, it is what it is sometimes.

But obviously it is done right now, all the way. And the old cable and all junction boxes removed.

Good eye.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[six-point socket II]

That original white-y cable looks eearily like having a PVC outer sheating. I would guess that is why it broke and why some poor animal found it enticing ..

Over here these are forbidden to use in the ground for, like, forever. Definitely before 80s. Besides ecology, PVC degrades and becomes fragile. Furthermore it is not water-tight so will leak moisture inside the cable ... even in a building I have not seen PVC sheating in anything younger than 60+ years old.

This looks like someone took an "extension cord" cable and just put it in the ground ... Erm.

Anything & everything is possible. You wouldn't believe the stuff I found over the years and corrected.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Michael Kellough]

[member=61254]mino[/member] steel armored cable is still required inside walls in NYC.
It’s not allowed outside of walls. There the conductors must be inside rigid steel or aluminum conduit.

 

[mino]

[member=61254]mino[/member] steel armored cable is still required inside walls in NYC.
It’s not allowed outside of walls. There the conductors must be inside rigid steel or aluminum conduit.

Heh, sound like those 1700s laws folks come over once in a while in the UK.

Jokes aside, I guess that is specific when the walls have cavities as oppossed to the cable being directly "in the concrete/grout" itself. Over here (central europe) "inside wall" literally means something directly in grout or, at worst, inside a cocrete cavity like a pre-stressed floor panel.

The current rules are that cables should be directly in grout in brick/concrete buildings whereever possible as is safer (and cheaper) than using tubing. Argument being that inside the wall there is no air access, so no fire is possible by default.

But we just do not do these super-efficient "compound" walls for residential construction like I see in all those movies with older and even new NY buildings. Over here one would normally not meet a drywall wall in a home. Exception being under-wooden-beam-roof spaces, if present or added.

 

[Coen]

What is there to burn in the cable? If it shorts > it trips the breaker. Fires start at bad contacts... those are in junction boxes... with air.

Like this thing. The previous owner didn't even replace it, but did replace the wire nut that caused it... leading to the brown wires being suspiciously short in this box... that should have been replaced. He must have gotten a discount on these boxes anyway, as there were three within 1.5 meters from each other... in the same circuit. Now there is only one junction box (visible in blurred background), slightly bigger, and slightly more conduit.
View attachment 1

Or like this, where someone didn't strip the blue wire long enough then placed it with the insulation in the clamp. Never happens with wago's, see it every now and then with screw clamps however..
View attachment 2

 

[mino]

What is there to burn in the cable? If it shorts > it trips the breaker. Fires start at bad contacts... those are in junction boxes... with air.

You can have a damaged cable from mechanical stress or sheating falling appart so there is *some* short-circuit, it will not trip a (current) breaker as the resistance is too high to trip a load-measuring breaker or a fuse.

So exactly what happens with the sockets can happen in a wall if a rodent has a go at a cable, the insulation gets compromised by moisture or whatever other reason. Rare, but the dange is it can be a hidden thing that will not be noticed untila whole house is no fire. This was not uncommon in the 1920s-1930s where there was not enough experience around with electricity.

Now, with a European-style brick house, this is mostly a non-issue - a fire inside a brick wall has nowhere to go, right? Unless it happens next to the wooden roof or floor joists ...

 

[leakyroof]

[member=61254]mino[/member] steel armored cable is still required inside walls in NYC.
It’s not allowed outside of walls. There the conductors must be inside rigid steel or aluminum conduit.

  While conduit is I believe , the required code for Chicago, inside walls even, you see lots of armored cable in older homes since it snakes through holes and other places that running retro-fit rigid conduit would have been a lot more work and money. 
Holzwacker could chime in with his experience on this for Chicago market.
  As for cutting it, EASY PEASY with the right cutting tool for the most part.  Total game changer once I got that cutter....  [cool]

 

[Coen]

What is there to burn in the cable? If it shorts > it trips the breaker. Fires start at bad contacts... those are in junction boxes... with air.

You can have a damaged cable from mechanical stress or sheating falling appart so there is *some* short-circuit, it will not trip a (current) breaker as the resistance is too high to trip a load-measuring breaker or a fuse.

So exactly what happens with the sockets can happen in a wall if a rodent has a go at a cable, the insulation gets compromised by moisture or whatever other reason. Rare, but the dange is it can be a hidden thing that will not be noticed untila whole house is no fire. This was not uncommon in the 1920s-1930s where there was not enough experience around with electricity.

Now, with a European-style brick house, this is mostly a non-issue - a fire inside a brick wall has nowhere to go, right? Unless it happens next to the wooden roof or floor joists ...

That was a 100 years ago when they used slower fuses vs fast MCB's and had no RCD's.
If a rodent (or anything else) eats into the cable (also less likely with newer stuff that doesn't contain organic stuff that attracts the animals in the first place) and exposes two conductors, the spacing between them is already enough to have no conductivity. Against 230V less than a third of a mm is already enough (that is 1/76 of an inch). Exceptional cases, like sharp edges, might double the required distance, but in general it is 1 kV per mm. If (not pure) water gets in there it will trip the RCD if one of the wires involved is the ground wire. The funny thing with water is that it also provides a heat sink but when arced through, it will evaporate, ending the short, often enabling the circuit to be turned on again (until the next 'pool' forms & repeat).

The nice thing with conduit is that drilling into it by accident and damaging or cutting one of the wires is only a 10 minute repair; remove the cover / outlet / switch on both nearest junction boxes and replace wires as needed and done. Back in the '30s they build with the junction boxes hidden between floor and ceiling, requiring you to lift floor hatches to access. But newer builds have central junction boxes, usually behind the ceiling light.

 

[mino]

Those houses still exist and it does not matter if one has a "slow" fuse or a "fast" overload breaker. They both behave the same and will not trigger if the load does not reach a certain threshold.

And even if the insulation "break" is between N and L, even a 30 mA RCD will not do a thing. We had one such case where an extension cable in a shop was mechanically squeezed, completely burned up, and the problem was detected only from the smell of burned up PVC. We tested the RCD and it worked, just the leak was not to ground so it had nothing to act on and the cummulative resistance was enough that the 16A (C-type) breaker could not act either.

IMO this is why there is push these days to install dedicated arc-protection breakers in wooden structures. So a mechanical protection - which grounded will actually *allow* an RCD to act - still makes sense in some cases.

 

[Kotboros]

Your decision to repair and partially replace the electrical line rather than replacing the whole thing shows practical thinking. It must have been satisfying to finally have the opportunity to replace the entire line after all those years. Taking a closer look at the Easycell(R)  boxes after such a long time and finding them in good condition is truly remarkable. It speaks volumes about their durability and effectiveness. Your experience serves as a testament to the quality of these products.