Expert answers your top 5 electrical maintenance questions.

Mario DeAgazio

automotive manufacturing facility

Wear and tear to machinery and equipment can lead to lower machine efficiency, shorter equipment life cycle, and production line breakdowns.

That’s why electrical maintenance is necessary – it helps to keep your plant and production facility running like a well-oiled machine, so you can maximize profits.

From emergency situations to routine preventative general maintenance, I’ve received a lot of questions about industrial maintenance operations. Here, I’ve compiled the five most frequently asked troubleshooting questions.

plant production line

Electrical maintenance troubleshooting: top 5 frequently asked questions.

What should I use to repair a cable jacket?

There are a variety of products that you can use to help repair a cable jacket or when adding secondary insulation.The top products that come to my mind are Scotch® Cable Jacket Repair Tape and 3M™ Wraparound Heat Shrink Cable Repair Sleeve. In most cases, you can’t slide on a product or have time for an electrical resin to cure, which is why I recommend the self-healing properties of Scotch® Cable Jacket Repair Tape. The benefit of coupling that with 3M™ Wraparound Heat Shrink Cable Repair Sleeve is that this technology is designed to help provide maximum protection against mechanical stress for heavy mechanical equipment, generators, and even transportation applications like airlines and shipyards.

What vinyl electrical tape will work best year-round – especially in the cold?

For excellent cold weather performance, I recommend Scotch® Professional Grade Heavy Duty Vinyl Electrical Tape Super 88. It is designed to perform in extreme heat and extreme cold with a temperature range of -18^o to 105^oC, so you won’t lose the flexibility, strength memory, and adhesion that you need for an electrical construction and maintenance project.

What splice kit should I use for low voltage armoured cables?

If you need to splice low voltage (1000V or less) armoured single conductor or multi conductor cable, the go-to kit – in my opinion – is the 3M ^TM Emergency Tape Splice Kit. I recommend this kit for splicing low voltage cables because it can handle any configuration, has materials to finish a complete splice or repair, and is Canadian Standards Association (CSA) approved. *

What can I use to splice a RWU90 high speed copper cable?

We have four 3M technologies to choose from when splicing a RWU90 high speed copper cable: electrical tapes, heat shrink, resins, and cold shrink. You can go with any one for your electrical repair. I personally would lead with 3M™ Cold Shrink Silicone Insulator because it’s fast and easy to install and requires no tools. It also has a live seal which will continue to squeeze on the cable for decades.

What splice is best for submersible pump applications?

For any submersible application, I almost always go with a resin splice. 3M™ Scotchcast™ Inline Resin Power Cable Splice Kit and 3M™ Scotchcast™ Flexible Splice Kit are both great for submersible pump applications because they essentially encase the entire connection with in an epoxy or polyurethane resin, which completely seals and protects the connection.