Splice Quandary

 Dear All-knowing Frog,

My firm’s cable system consists of cable segments with existing hand-taped splices and “Dutchmen” type splices.  Describe how your company would inject cables with both these types of splices and the benefits\cost savings.

Can you help me with my splice quandary?

Al Berta

Dear Al-

You came to the right Frog.  Many circuit owners reflexively think about replacing the entire cable run when a single blocked splice is encountered. Replacement of the entire run is the least capital efficient approach.  To understand why this is so, check out my August 31, 2010 post “Of Splices and Prices.”

Dealing directly with splices is definitely the way to go. Novinium is the only rehabilitation supplier that offers three solutions – a good solution, a better solution, and a best solution.

Good

Traditionally, when blocked splices (or splice pairs a.k.a Dutchmen) are encountered they are excavated and replaced.  They may be replaced with a molded repair splice, where the repair splice length is great enough to span the gap between the two cable ends, or a pair of regular length molded splices together with a length of stranded and non-strand-blocked cable. Hose clamps are included on the molded splices to provide added hoop strength and improve their pressure holding capability.

Better 

Using Novinium’s patented (U.S. Patents 7,615,247, 7,195,504, 7,538,274, 7,683,260, and their non-U.S. equivalents) sustained pressure rejuvenation (SPR) process, splices are replaced with almost any kind of splice and the cable is injected from the splice pit in both directions, back to the next cable end.

Best

Combining the “pros” and eliminating all but one “con” of the good and better splice solutions is the Novinium flow-through splice. Shown in the drawing nearby a simple modification of a standard 3M compression connector makes for a flow-through splice without any pressure limitations. With the Novinium flow-through splice the cable can be treated with UPR or SPR methods and there is zero loss of fluid to the component.

Benefits and Savings

Novinium is the only firm with all three of these tools in its toolbox.  I’m reminded of Maslow’s hammer, popularly phrased: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”  If Novinium had only the “Good” approach, the circuit owner would have to accept the “Cons” associated with that approach. Instead, Novinium chooses the right tool for any circumstance – the tool that minimizes the time required to inject (i.e. saving money) and maximizes the post-injection reliability.

With options that can be tailored to your needs,

T. B. Frog

Middle East Query – Water-Block and Rejuvenation

Dweller of the Desert asked 22 questions in his post …

Middle East Query – 22 Questions.

In this installment I address question 16.

16.   What if my cable strands have water block design elements?

If a cable has thermoplastic strand fill material or has water absorption powder, it probably cannot be injected.  However, these materials were not generally adopted until about 1985.  It is unlikely that cables, which are suffering reliability issues, have strand-blocking features.  When the Novinium process is used to inject cables, the Novinium Injection Adaptor is used to tenaciously seal the ends of the cable and each splice.

For those circuit owners that specify strand-blocked cable – stop!  The cable manufacturers charge you more, but for what benefit? An understanding of how water distributes itself in a cable provides no justification for the additional expense.  Click here to read an article in the November/December Issue of IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, “Molecular Thermodynamics of Water in Direct-buried Power Cables.”  The “Molecular Thermodynamics” article provides data and a theoretical framework to understand the negative impact of stand-blocked conductor designs.

For now, Ma’a salama (مع السلامة/Good bye)

T. B. Frog