XHHW stands for XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) High Heat-resistant Water-resistant. It’s commonly used in applications like commercial buildings, and industrial applications such as power plants and mills. It can be used in single-phase setup or parallel for a multi-conductor. The conductors can be made of copper or aluminum and either stranded or solid, stranded being used for more flexible applications.
XHHW-2’s thermoset material also gives it great flexibility. The flexibility makes it suitable for applications that may involve bends or sharp corners. Another predominant use of the wire is for critical circuitry. RHH/USE, a derivative of XLP, can be used in power circuits run in conduit from the utility meter to main circuit protection panels and can also be used in direct burial applications.
Why Should Electrical Contractors Use XHHW-2?
XHHW-2 is often used in electrical contracting work despite being more costly than other options such as THHN. Its benefit in performance makes it a more popular choice among contractors and makes it the most recommended by the electrical distribution industry for industrial, residential, and commercial construction.
THHN, which is made with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is much more susceptible to temperature damage. Its hygroscopic nylon jacket absorbs moisture and can only withstand up to 75 degrees Celsius in wet environments.
These factors make it a safe choice for electrical contractors.
Making sure you have the correct wire and matching the NEC (National Electric Code) job site conditions in conjunction with the project engineer is vital for the safety of all contractors and construction workers. The elevated temperature resistance of XHHW-2 in wet and dry environments make it a safe option, despite the higher cost.
Additionally, its ability to be customized in conductor and color and its ability to be bundled is an advantage in electrical construction. One-pull can also customize the wire with stripes in a spiral or a longitudinal full-color stripe, along with being able to number each conductor or phase tape each end.
XHHW-2 is one of One-pull’s most requested access control wires to bundle. Learn more about what other types of wires can be used in wire bundles.
Solar project developers are halting installations because of increased prices for materials and labor. Contractors who can wait on their projects have placed them on hold, hoping that the prices will begin to decrease. However, the prices continue to stay high, which is slowing down the growth of the solar industry.
Before the pandemic, the industry had been experiencing a steady growth of 42% per year, while maintaining low costs. This surge in pricing suggests a turn-around from the advancements made in the past decade in the solar sector; threatening the U.S. plan for 70% renewable energy in 2030. Despite the U.S. now being in the recovery of the pandemic, contractors are still hesitant to continue projects that they had put on hold in 2020.
2. Layoffs
Nearly 600,000 clean energy jobs were lost during the peak of Covid-19, around 17% of the existing workforce. Jobs in solar and wind make up over 15% of that number. Due to social distancing guidelines from the CDC, access to homes was limited during the pandemic, causing the cancellation of many commercial and residential projects that required entry by workers.
Between December 2020 and January 2021, the renewable energy sector went through a massive rehire of the labor force. However, they were still at a 12 percent decline over pre-COVID-19 employment levels. If the renewable energy industry continues at this slow rate of recovery, it would take at least two more years to balance the employment losses during the pandemic.
3. Construction Delays
Installations under construction could not continue with the component delays during the pandemic. Three essential processes of solar installations i.e. approvals for hydropower projects, investment in battery storage, and electricity grid spending experienced a decline in 2019 and into 2020 impacting development schedules for all projects. The majority of utility-scale installations are expected to fully resume in 2021. However, individuals and companies along the supply chain remain hesitant to make investments in distributed PV and solar heaters, with the uncertainty of return on the projects.
Once the fastest growing industry, the solar industry took a hit with the emergence of Covid-19. However, despite slowed and cancelled projects, the EIA expects that the share of U.S. generation from wind and solar sources will rise from 11% in 2020 to 15% by 2022. For this to happen, companies within the clean energy supply chain will need to focus on repairing the damage to their supply chain caused by the pandemic.
Learn more about the U.S. plan for renewable energy in 2021.
With roots going back over 75 years, One-Pull Wire and Cable Solutions is the nation’s leading manufacturer of custom bundled cable solutions.
Today, One-Pull is the nation’s premier manufacturer of custom bundled cable solutions. Our UL-listed Quik-Pull bundles can cut labor costs by up to 40% by reducing time spent on the job site for setup, installation, and cleanup. With an expanding portfolio of industry-specific solutions, short lead times, and winning customer service, One-Pull delivers a competitive edge for electricians and contractors.
1946
Clifford of Vermont is founded by Ted Clifford in Bethel, Vermont, to distribute post-WW2 surplus telephone cable and hardware.
1979
Clifford of Vermont launches Quik-Pull in Randolph, Vermont, to provide custom printed and bundled cable solutions to Clifford customers. Quik-Pull manufactures printed wire, twisted pair solutions, straight-pull and spiral cable bundles (or “Quik-Pulls”).
1989
A former Clifford shareholder establishes Cable & Harness in Windsor, Vermont. The new company manufactures printed wire, twisted pair solutions, and straight-pull bundles only.
1999
Clifford of Vermont purchases Cable & Harness, expanding its product lines and distribution network.
2003
Clifford of Vermont is acquired by Memphis, Tennessee’s Power & Telephone Supply Company to provide Power & Telephone with new manufacturing capabilities and broader market access.
2019
One-Pull Wire and Cable Solutions purchases Quik-Pull and Cable & Harness from Power & Telephone Supply. Windsor, Vermont-based One-Pull consolidates operations at the Quik-Pull plant in Randolph.
2021
One-Pull Wire and Cable Solutions is a leading national manufacturer of custom printed and bundled cable solutions for commercial and industrial applications. One-Pull remains the only manufacturer of spiral “Quik-Pulls.”
Saving time is always a top priority for busy construction project managers and procurement specialists. When your to-do list and your inbox are both full, finding small productivity enhancers can make a big difference in your day.
Take, for example, when ordering bundled cable. Project managers need to know the estimated outside diameter (OD) of XHHW-2 or THHN wire bundles to determine if they will fit inside existing conduits and trays, or confirm which conduit size to use on the job site. PMs typically rely on engineers or vendors to make those calculations. That means making calls or sending emails, then waiting for a response.
At One-Pull, we’re always looking for ways to save our customers time. By providing a real-time answer to “what is the diameter of my wire bundle?” our Bundled Cable Outside Diameter Calculator tool does just that.
Configuration Types and Fill Rates—
Will My Cable Bundle Fit?
The calculator is located on the Resources page of our One-Pull website. Users simply input their wire insulation type, gauge, and the number of conductors, then select their configuration type. The calculator instantly outputs the outside diameter of the specified cable bundle in inches. Users also have the option of receiving a detailed, downloadable spreadsheet containing their bundled cable OD calculations.
This immediate calculation is beneficial for project managers who must keep conduit fill rates in mind when designing their cable bundles. Conduit fill is the amount of conduit occupied by a cable or cable bundle, based on the conduit’s inside diameter and the outside diameter of the cable or cable bundle.
Recommended fill rates are determined by the National Electrical Code® (NEC), and non-compliance can lead to costly rewiring or even an unsafe installation. Our One-Pull Bundled Cable Outside Diameter Calculator helps project managers quickly determine fill rates and confirm compliance with NEC specifications.
Spiral Versus Straight Cable Bundles
The One-Pull calculator also highlights a key difference between spiral cable bundles and their straight bundle counterparts. Spiral bundles are smaller and take up less room in the conduit than straight bundles.
Spiral cable bundles are also more flexible than straight bundles, which can be critical when pulling cable through bends or on long home run pulls.
One-Pull — Saving You Time and Money
Saving our customers time and money on every project is central to One Pull’s mission. Here are other ways we’ll work with you to deliver on that promise:
Custom printing. Terminating cable is time and labor-intensive, especially if contractors have to label and test every conductor. One-Pull minimizes those requirements by printing unique identifiers on each wire. We can also tailor printing for specific customer needs by adding custom numbering schemes, branding, or other text.
Wire striping. Striping helps contractors to quickly identify individual conductors by visual inspection. One-Pull’s striping is available in multiple colors as a linear tracer or in a spiral tracer stripe that wraps around the conductor.
Short lead times. One-Pull’s lead times are the fastest in the industry for custom cable bundles, with targets of five days or less.
Same-day quotes. Our highly-trained customer service team responds quickly to all email and telephone inquiries and provides same-day quotes to help meet tight customer deadlines.
At One-Pull, we know that assumptions aren’t enough for our customers. So we conducted a controlled time and motion study to quantify the time savings achieved when installing bundled cable compared to pulling, cutting and tagging multiple conductors on-site.
Even we were surprised by the results.
How Does Bundled, Pre-Cut, Pre-Labeled Cable Slash Costs?
Pulling cable is a labor-intensive, multi-step process. Installers must pull conductors from separate spools, feed them through conduit or a cable tray, then label and terminate each wire. Bundled, pre-cut, pre-labeled cable eliminates or simplifies several steps in this process.
Pre-Printed Cable Eliminates Labeling
With single conductors, installers have to label wire multiple times. First, they label individual spools. Next, once they pull the wire through the conduit, contractors separately label each conductor after referencing it back to the associated spool. If they don’t, they’ll need to ring out each wire, a very time-consuming process.
Finally, when installers terminate the conductor onto the breaker panel, they’ll typically have extra wire left over. When they trim that extra wire, often they’ll remove the label as well — so those wires must be relabeled.
Pre-printed cable eliminates the need for all this labor-intensive and time-consuming labeling. With pre-printed conductors, the custom printing repeats every few inches on each wire. No matter where contractors trim and terminate the cable, the identification is always in the right place.
Easier, Faster Pulls
While most of the time savings associated with a bundled cable are realized in both a straight or a spiral configuration, when pulling through conduit a spiral bundle has significant advantages over both singles and a straight bundle.
Spiral vs. Straight Cable Bundle Configurations
Contractors often use straight bundled cable configurations for home runs and assemblies laid in place. The un-spiraled structure also helps minimize heat build-up in power wires 12 AWG or larger.
The compact binding in spiral configurations maintains its shape and provides greater flexibility. Spiral cable bundled are often used for long pulls in conduit or where numerous bends in the conduit could cause hang-ups. Spiral-wrapped bundles pull much easier through conduit, requiring much less force.
In our time and motion study, we measured the force required to pull both 50 conductor straight and spiral bundles through the same conduit. The straight bundle needed three people to pull — two pushing from the spool end and one pulling from the terminating end of the conduit. It was slow and difficult to pull — one team member used gloves to help protect his hands when pulling on the pull string to complete the task.
By comparison, the spiral bundle needed only two people — one at each end. The pull required much less effort and was completed significantly faster.
Pre-Cut Cable — Another Time-Saver
When contractors are installing hundreds or thousands of cables, every minute they can save quickly adds up. Pre-cut cables eliminate trimming time for installers and minimize expensive copper waste, both which can yield boost the bottom line.
Other Benefits of Bundled, Pre-Cut, Pre-Labeled Cable
While the cost savings are significant, using bundled, pre-cut, pre-labeled cable offers other important benefits to contractors and installers:
Error reduction
Mislabeling conductors is a serious job site concern. Installers can incur critical delays if they’re forced to ring out or re-terminate mislabeled cables.
Less Cluttered Job Sites
Manually-bundled cables can leave the job site littered with debris — hundreds of empty spools and piles of trimmed cable ends. While a cluttered job site can represent a safety risk, there are also costs associated with disposing of cable debris. Using pre-cut cable also minimizes leftover wire that has no residual value and must be scrapped.
Fatigue Reduction
Contractors are always concerned about repetitive strain injuries and employee safety. Our time and motion study confirmed that it took much greater force to pull manual cable bundles than pre-cut, spiral bundles. These extra efforts can translate into worker fatigue, injuries, and even employee time off.
The Bottom Line — Big Savings
To zero in on the savings potential of bundled, pre-cut, pre-labeled cable solutions, we conducted our time and motion study in a carefully controlled environment. We pulled both 25 and 50-conductor bundles and repeated each step of the process several times.
The result? We determined that contractors using bundled cable solutions is over 8 times faster compared to manually pulling single conductors.
Of course, no two projects or job sites are the same, and not every One-Pull customer may achieve the same results. However, contractors looking to save labor costs and boost margins would be wise to explore the benefits of bundled, pre-cut, pre-labeled cable for themselves.
Conveyor systemsincreaseefficiency and productivityin manufacturing. When considering installing a conveyor system, it is essential to be aware of all the components that determine the pricing.
Installing a conveyer belt system goes beyond equipment acquisition. A conveyor system carries three costs— two of which are rarely taken into consideration. Besides the initial costs that are easiest to understand and quantify, there are operational and maintenance costs. Being aware of and understanding these associated costs enables companies to decide whether installing a conveyor system is financially feasible.
Since conveyor system installation costs vary, this article does not provide specific prices associated with conveyor belts. However, it gives a breakdown of what factors go into determining the overall costs.
We look into the three costs mentioned above and how they factor into an automated conveyor system installation.
1. Initial Costs
When it comes to a conveyor belt system installation, the initialcosts include the price of the equipment,installation, and controls.
Conveyor systems come in a range of prices depending on their intended use.They vary depending on the needs and scope of the project. Certain types of conveyor systems are more expensive than others. For example, a regular conveyor belt is used for a general process or a manufacturing step can be found at lower prices.Belt conveyors,on the other hand, are the most commonly used since they arecost-effective.
Another less expensive option would be acquiring used conveyor belts or modular conveyer belts. Modular belts are small and semi-portable. They come in pieces and are assembled on site. While less expensive, they are subject to wear and are not heavy duty.
Labor costs should also be taken into consideration when looking at initial costs.While hiring a specialty electrical contractor adds to the labor costs, it could ensure a safe and successful installation. Improper installation can lead to performance issues which is why getting the right contractor is important.Suchcontractors are well-trained to handle new equipment designs and safety procedures. Theelectrical contractor can also oversee ongoing maintenance contributing to more efficient production. In the long run, this not only reduces injuries but also saves money.
2. Maintenance
A well-maintained conveyor system is critical to its success. High breakage of materials could lead to longer processing times which in turn delays orders.
Different types of conveyor systems require different levels of maintenance. Vacuum conveyors, for example, have a very high maintenance cost.
While everyday maintenance is critical, it does not significantly increase the overall cost compared to maintenance resulting from poorly functioning equipment.
Purchasing a cheaper conveyer system to lower initial costs, regardless of the durability of the equipment, could mean constantly having to buy and install replacement parts. This could quickly add up, bringing the cost even higher than the initial cost or even the cost of a more expensive but durable conveyor belt system. Therefore,it may be more cost-effective to purchase more expensive but more reliable equipment than initially cheaper equipment with a higher risk of failure.
Replacing parts of a conveyor system requires expertisewhich could mean hiring specialized labor. This adds to the labor costs and overall cost of the conveyor system.
Learn moreabout conveyer systems in our quick guide to material handling systems.
3. Operational
While more manufacturing machinery is becoming automated, running a conveyer belt still requires some form of human oversight. This is an operational cost in the form of associated human labor costs. This goes beyond wages as it includes administrative costs of maintaining operators for the conveyer equipment.
Maintenance and repair costs are also factored into the overall operational cost of the conveyor system.
Besides maintenance,repair, and labor costs, another operational cost associated with conveyor systems is the energy consumption cost.
A facility’s energy costs will vary based on the type of energy source, location, and electricity peak demands. Being a high energy consumption equipment, conveyor systems could significantly raise the energy costsof a facility. Hence one should consider the energy needs of a conveyor system prior to installing one to make sure that they are ready for the associated energy costs.
In summary, to determine the overall cost of a conveyer system, always take this calculation into consideration:
TCO (total cost of ownership) = IC (initial cost) + OC (operational costs) + MC (maintenance costs)/ useful life of the system.
Check out5 U.S. companies that are leading the charge in the manufacturing of automated conveyor belt systems.
Every contractor is looking for ways to reduce costs and save time on the job. And when it comes to wire and cable, material costs are just the beginning. Separately labeling and ringing out each conductor takes time, and labor costs can quickly add up. However, custom printed cable can simplify the identification of individual conductors, speed termination times, and slash labor costs.
What Is Cable Printing?
Cable printing adds a unique, printed identifier to the jacket of each wire conductor. For example, with standard alpha-numeric printing, the first conductor would be labeled ‘ONE-1’, the second ‘TWO-2’, and so forth. In this way, contractors can differentiate every conductor within a cable bundle, even if they’re all the same type and jacket color.
At One-Pull, we use a durable inkjet printing process to mark each conductor in black or high contrast bright white, repeating the printing every two inches along the conductor’s entire length. One-Pull can further customize printing to include multiple alpha-numeric characters, symbols, words, and even complete sentences.
Cable Striping — Another Visual Aid for Contractors
Another way to identify conductors within a cable bundle is with striping. Different colored stripes on each conductor help contractors visually differentiate between multiple wires in a cable bundle. As with our alpha-numeric printing, One-Pull uses a specialized inkjet printer to add the striping, either as a linear tracer running along the wire’s length or in a spiral stripe that wraps around the wire. Our striping is available in various colors, including common color codes like E1, E2, K1, and K2.
The Benefits of Custom Cable Printing:
Time Savings, and More Custom cable printing offers many benefits to project managers and facility operators: Reduces termination time and labor costs. Printing eliminates the need to test or ‘ring out’ each conductor, saving contractors considerable time. A common alternative, cable tagging, is much more time and labor-intensive. Printing on the entire cable allows simple conductor identification, no matter where the conductor is cut and terminated along the wire length.
Simplifies troubleshooting and daily operations. If a production facility experiences a connection failure or wire break, cable printing helps staff quickly identify and repair the damaged or disconnected conductor. Similarly, cable printing expedites the ‘moves and changes’ process in production environments if conductors need to be relocated and re-terminated.
Promotes brand identity. With custom printing, suppliers and contractors can add company names and tag lines to wire and cable, helping them establish and reinforce their brand.
Enhances safety and deters theft. Cable printing can help keep workers safe by providing proximity or hazard notifications (e.g., ‘Gas Line Below — Warning’). Custom printing can also reduce or eliminate cable theft.
Supports industry-specific requirements. Some industries have specific requirements for cable printing. For example, complex environments like wastewater treatment plants often use unique printed codes to facilitate control panel connection throughout the plant. Government project RFPs may also include specific wire marking requirements.
One-Pull Custom Cable Printing: a Fast, Cost-Effective Solution
The incremental cost of custom cable printing is minimal, particularly when compared to the costs of manually tagging each wire. Printing, combined with One-Pull’s bundled cable solutions, provides contractors with a compelling return on investment by reducing installation times, labor costs, and onsite material waste.
As well, ordering printed cable from One-Pull won’t hold up progress on the job site. Our lead time target for custom printed cable bundles is 3-5 days — the shortest in the industry.
For many contractors and project managers, custom cable bundling and printing offer compelling financial and operational advantages. One-Pull’s expert team can answer all of your questions about custom printing, provide a same-day quote, and deliver your custom cable cost-effectively — when and where you need it
Here at One-Pull Wire Solutions, we’re known for technical innovation that helps electrical contractors reduce costs, save time, and improve productivity.
One-Pull manufactures custom bundled and labeled cables used extensively in industrial applications like conveyor belt systems and automated control wiring. Each cable bundle can incorporate up to 300 separate conductors, and each wire can be custom-labeled every two inches to simplify identification and termination.
Our One-Pull bundled cabling solutions can yield up to 40% in labor cost savings by reducing set-up, tagging, pulling times, and ring-out requirements. One-Pull bundled cables are also built to custom lengths to meet individual customer specifications, minimizing wire waste and excess customer inventory.
A Combination of Industry Leaders
In 2019, One-Pull acquired Quik-Pull, another leading custom cable manufacturer well-known to electrical contractors and distributors for its bundled cable solutions. As a result, our expanded product line now includes spiral configurations, insulated multi-conductor wire bundles, and custom tray cable (UL-listed for direct burial) — all available nationally through One-Pull’s distributor partners.
The Benefits of Bundled Cables
Bundled cables address a significant challenge electrical contractors often face on the job site. Single conductors must be pulled from individual spools, then tagged and taped together before pulling through conduit. In contrast, One-Pull’s bundled cable comes on single spools and is cut to the exact lengths specified for the job — speeding up the installation and reducing material waste.
Our bundled cables come in many configurations. The most common are:
Straight configurations — consist of individual conductors that can be broken out at intermediate points along the run. This configuration is generally used for #12 AWG wire sizes and above to minimize heat build-up. It works well for cable bundles used in trays, troughs, and other wire management systems that do not use conduit.
Spiral configurations — are commonly used for ‘home runs’ pulled through conduits or raceways. This configuration retains the cable’s roundness and flexibility through our equipment’s twisting capabilities, making it easier to pull cable over long distances and through conduit.
Staggered configurations — are optimal for wiring that must be broken out at particular points along the run. Staggered configuration bundles have all the breakouts measured, cut, and ready to be installed, eliminating the need to measure specific lengths and terminations on the job site.
Reducing Labor Costs with Custom Printing and Striping
Once pulled, terminating cable can be slow, painstaking work. Each conductor must be separately labeled, and contractors often have to test or ‘ring out’ each wire to ensure they’re terminating the right conductor.
One-Pull eliminates manual labeling and ring-out requirements by printing unique identifiers on each conductor. We use durable inkjet printing to affix alpha-numeric characters, symbols, words, and sentences on each wire.
Our printing is entirely customizable. Common options include conductor coding, technical print, standard numbering, and custom branding. Each conductor is marked every two inches, and print is available in black or high contrast bright white.
Striping is another way to help reduce termination labor costs. Striping helps to quickly identify conductors by differentiating the same color conductors through a visual inspection. Striping is available in multiple colors, including existing color codes like E1, E2, K1, and K2.
Striping may be applied as a linear tracer running parallel to the wire or in a spiral tracer stripe that wraps around the conductor as it runs along the length of the wire.
Short Lead Times for Busy Contractors
Time is a precious commodity for project managers, estimators, and electrical contractors. At One-Pull, our lead time target is five days or less — the shortest in the industry for custom cable bundles.
We know that the clock starts running when you pick up the phone. Our expert customer service team will quickly answer all of your questions and provide a same-day quote. And, when it comes to shipping, we’ll recommend cost-effective options to deliver your cable when and where you need it.
No Substitute for Experience
We’re proud of our low employee turnover, and many of our team members have been with us for over a decade. That experience, combined with an ongoing focus on updating our industry knowledge and technical expertise, ensures our team can serve as trusted advisors to our customers, whatever their requirements.
Here at One-Pull, we look forward to helping you choose the right bundled cable solutions to reduce your project costs and boost your productivity.
Want to learn more about what our products can do for your next project? Contact us, and a representative will get back to you shortly.
When choosing cable, contractors must know the difference between plenum and non-plenum spaces. Making the wrong choice can mean a needless expense, or worse, run afoul of building codes and create a safety issue.
Drop ceilings and raised floors are spaces commonly used to run data and electrical cables. In many cases, but not all, these spaces are designated as plenum, mandating the use of specially-designed cable for safety purposes.
What is a Plenum?
A plenum space is a raceway, duct, or air space that forms part of the air-handling component of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. While drop ceilings and raised floors are often considered plenum, some drop ceilings are built tight enough to restrict airflow and may not be deemed plenum spaces.
Due to the high rate of airflow, plenum spaces can represent a significant fire hazard. If standard (non-plenum) cable is used in plenum spaces, the cable insulation can spread a fire quickly and release toxic smoke and fumes throughout the building.
Plenum Versus Non-Plenum Cable
The physical differences between plenum and non-plenum cable are straightforward. It’s all in the jacket — the outer sheath that protects the cable’s core.
Plenum cables have specially treated jackets to inhibit flame progression and eliminate the harmful smoke normally released by burning plastic. The plenum cable jacket is usually made with a low-smoke PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or FEP (fluorinated ethylene polymer) and sometimes uses a Teflon coating (PTFE).
In the U.S., the construction and composition of plenum cable are regulated under the National Fire Protection Association standard NFPA 90A, an evaluation that includes extensive fire safety testing.
Picking the Right Cable for Your Job
Plenum cable is more expensive (up to 2x) than its non-plenum counterpart, so using plenum cable when it’s not needed can eat into margins and impact profitability. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy for contractors to determine whether plenum cable is required.
Typically project engineers will review local building codes to help determine which cable to specify. If the codebook is unclear, consulting with local inspectors will validate whether plenum-rated cable should be used in a particular environment.
Can Plenum Cable Be Bundled?
Pre-cut, bundled cables can slash set-up, tagging, and pulling times while reducing material waste. In many cases, using bundled cabling can save contractors up to 40% in labor costs. Bundled cables also require less space to pull through and make for cleaner, more manageable terminations.
Plenum-rated cable can be bundled using special, fire-rated Kevlar binding. This binding holds the conductors tightly together (with enough room to breathe) while limiting sagging or catching wires when pulled.
It’s important to note that it’s not always possible to print on plenum cable, depending on the type of jacket used. Printing is used to speed conductor identification and termination by printing a unique identifier on each wire. However, the inkjet printing typically employed for bundled cable may not ‘stick’ to plenum cable jackets, especially those containing Teflon.
One-Pull: Helping You Choose Your Best Options
Our One-Pull team of experts can help you determine if bundled cable is the right fit for your plenum and non-plenum requirements. One-Pull will completely customize your cable bundles (including printing) and provide short and custom runs with no minimum length requirements.
Since 1979, One-Pull has been producing bundled cable solutions for electrical contractors and industrial applications. With same-day quoting and the best lead times in the industry (typically five days or less), we’re committed to saving our customers time — and money.
To learn more about how One-Pull products can save you time and money, contact us and a representative will get back to you shortly.
Electrical contractors often ask us what are the differences between our Quik-Pullbundled cable products andSIMpull Coilpaks.When speaking with electrical contractors, I explain that whether bundled cable is better suited for a project thanSIMpullCoilpaks often depends on the type of construction, the number of conductors being pulled, and the total wire footage.
Here I will run through the advantages of both products and the types of projects where one is a better cost-saving solution.
SIMpullCoilpaks
Stocked at most electrical distributors, SIMpullCoilpaksare available indifferent sizes and colors (in fact you can order from Home Depot or Lowes).
Advantages of SIMpull Coilpaks
Easy setup
The SIMpullCoilpakscome in individual packs which can then be easily pulled from the package. Among the benefits are thatthe Coilpaks can be quickly set up onSIMPull cart (sold separately), which contains a payoff with 8 shelves that hold the individual Coilpaks. Though the Coilpaks can be used without the cart, it is good to have a cart for larger pulls. For smaller pulls (such as less than 5 conductors), the containers can be stacked on top of one another. The conductors are then pulled from the center of the packages.
Widely available
Once the Coilpaks are set up on the cart’s payoff, the electrical workers can easily combine the conductors which the workers then proceed to pull to the connection. Since Coilpaks are not custom made, they are stocked at most distributors. This makes them easy to find, purchase, and bring to a job site.
Good solution for short home runs
When I speak with electrical construction crews, I often tell them that SIMpullis a good solution for repetitive home runs that do not involve dozens of conductors (individual Coilpaks can include up to four conductors inside each pack).
Disadvantages of SIMPullCoilpaks
Despite the advantages there are some drawbacks that limit Coilpaks utility on different types of projects..
Leftover material
Since they are not custom made, there is typically leftoverwire.No electrical contractor wants to have a surplus inventory of different lengths and gauge size of THHN wire just sitting around in their office. Especially at a time when copper prices are high, scrap wire on the job site can make a noticeable dent in the electrical contractor’s profit margins.
Conductor limit
Since there’s also a maximum of 8 Coilpaks on the payoff cart, the product is not as well suited for large wire bundle installations where the contractor needs to installmore than dozens of conductors per home run.
Length limit
The longest Coilpak is 14 solid which comes up to 2500 feet per pack so any longer runs limit where the Coilpak can be used.
The cart cost is expensive
There’s also the cost of setup: if you don’t have a cart, it’s good to have one for a multi-conductor pull. Purchasing a SIMPull cart costs over $1,500.
No custom printing
If the electrical workersare using the same color conductors, they’ll have to do the tagging themselves. Without the custom printing, electrical workers have tospendthe time marking and tagging, adding to the set-up and extending their time on the job site.
Bundled Cable
Premanufactured bundled cable is an effective labor saving solutions for many different types of electrical construction projects.
Advantages of Bundled Cable
Prefabricated wire bundles expedite installation
Since every bundled cable order is manufactured to customer specification, the setup and installation is faster than using a SIMpullCoilpak.Bundled cable, on the other hand, is pre-made and shipped on a single reel so that once it is setup on a job, the pulling can begin seamlessly.
Custom printing saves time on tagging and identifying
Bundled cable comes with custom alpha-numeric printing every 2” on the individual conductors. As a result the electrical workers save time on the marking, tagging, and identifying portion of the installation.
Manufactured to specification avoids surplus footage
Since every order is manufactured to the customer’s specification, scrap footage is greatly reduced or eliminated.
Large wire length and conductor count
Whereas Coilpaks carts have a payoff tree limited to 8 Coilpaks and the footage of individual Coilpaks are capped at 2,500 feet, bundled cable doesn’t. With bundled cable, it is possible to bundle over 50 conductors. Furthermore, our machinery can bundle up to 5,000 feet per conductor.
Disadvantages
Bundled cable is not the right product for every multi-conductor installation. There are certainly projects where I recommend SIMpullCoilpaks as a good alternative.
Since the wire is prebundled and labeled, the upfront sticker cost can appear higher for bundled cable than using Coilpaks.However, when you include the time on the job site to do the marking and tagging the overall value of the bundled solution comes into focus.
Longer lead time than Coilpaks
Coilpaks can be purchased and brought to a job site within hours (assuming it is stocked at a store relatively close to the job site).
On the other hand, bundled cablecan’t be purchased the same day it is ordered since every order is custom bundled. The lead time is typically 3 to5 days from order receipt to shipment. Therefore if an electrical contractor needs an immediate solution on the job site, Coilpaks would be a better option.
Summary
To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages to both products. Whenever I speak with an electrical contractor who is unfamiliar with custom bundled wiring and asks how it differs from SIMpull Coilpaks, I lay out the pros and cons of both products.
In short, bundled cable requires a bit more upfront planning and may appear to cost more. But for the right project, the savingsoccur on the job since it saves considerabletimeand let’s the contractor get their labor team on to the next project.
To learn more aboutour bundled cable products advantages, contact us for more information.
