Thomas & Betts UV Resistant Tie Wraps: Any Experiences With For Out Of Door Usage ?

For the last 30 years T and B black UV-Resistant Tie wraps have been used for out of door locations on Alaska's North Slope and on the trans Alaska pipeline. They seem to work well in sun light and in the cold. T and B black tie wraps is a generic term that generally means UV resistant as opposed to the white tie wraps that are not UV resistant. I do not remember the exact catalog numbers. I do remember a sales person going around on the slope in the early 80's stressing the need to use black T and B tie wraps for the out of door locations. Thomas and Betts was generally considered a top notch electrical supplier. However, if they have moved to China or Mexico this may not longer apply.

I live in Phoenix, they last a couple of seasons.

If your in a temperate region they might be ok.

We use a stainless steel band for outside work, in the desert sun.

To the OP or the casual reader, don't encircle any individual single conductor cable in steel. All conductors of a circuit need to go through together, such that the sum of the current encircled by steel is zero. Otherwise the steel will heat from induced eddy currents. This is why aluminum plates are sometimes used where multiple single conductor cables enter (steel walled) enclosures. If individual conductors went through individual holes in a steel enclosure wall, the steel would be subject to heating.

On the pipeline, at Valdez, and on Alaska's north slope we used stainless steel bands to band metal clad cable to insulated pipelines. We used tie wraps mainly for tieing down cables in cable trays. Some will argue that you don't need to tie cables down in cable trays, but if you want to avoid a rat's nest, the cables have to be laid out straight and tied down about every 6 feet preferably with the cut end at the bottom outside the tray. Also, we teach apprentices to twist the excess tie wrap off using kliens. If they are cut the sharp edges are a hazard. It is an absolute no no to cut tie wraps. It is a sure way of getting a reputation as a sloppy electrician if you cut them. We also file and paint the ends of cut unistrut, something that sloppy electricians do not do. Of course, working with union electricians on the trans-Alaska pipeline, Valdez Marine Terminal, and the North Slope has over the years brought me in contact with some of the finest craftsmen and mechanics the world has known. I just wish that more electricians could have the experience of working with some of them. Unfortunately, most of them have retired or died. I am afraid that the craftsman of the past are going to be replaced by cheap illegal immigrants that will not take pride in their work and who will deteriorate the craft. We have seen what happens when cheap foreign labor does in Alaska with the Red Dog Mine modules that were built in the Philippines and the sea water treatment barge used at Prudhoe Bay that was built in Korea. They were disasters in craftsmanship and required many man-hours of rework. I am getting off the subject here but the tie wrap workmanship brings up many memories.

I saw a trick used by the Rolm guys. If you hold a razor knife blade flat against the binder block of a tywrap while you are tensioning it and then slide the knife it will cut the tywrap off below the surface when it snaps back. They really make a tool for this that tensions the tywrap and cuts it but few people have one

The razor knife technique can be a dangerous practice because many times tie wraps are used in panels. The possibility of unintentionally cutting through the insulation of a wire is too great. Sometimes working in control panels can be a very precarious task. I recall working in a control panel at a Gathering Center on Alaska's North Slope where the accidental removal of one wire shut down one half of the Alaska's North Slope Oil production. As I recall there were two wires under one terminal and the task required removing one wire while the other remained in contact. I was new to the crew (and rather green) and the foreman sort of set me up and I fell for it. In situations similar to this I would avoid the use of razor knives, and rely on using the Kleins to twist the ends of the tie wraps off.

Rolm guys are not working in industrial switchgear If you are really working on that stuff you should buy ther right tool. They make a real tywrap tensioner and cutter. That insures you set them to the optimum tightness.

Kleins are the right tool. When we are out on a remote job waiting for the "right tool" while earning $2,500 a week we are accused of wobbling the job. A journeyman wireman gets the job done and done right with the tools at hand. The Kliens are on the tool list that we are required to personally supply, the tie wrap tool you mention is not on the tool list. It is up to the employer to supply the tie wrap tool, and that takes time and asking for it makes us look like whiners.