wire type in electic baseboard heater


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Old 04-03-12, 10:44 AM
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wire type in electic baseboard heater

I have a dozen electric baseboard heater 20ish years old where the insulation on the return wire that goes throught the back of the heater, are failing. The wire type is TEW 105c rating the supply house doesnt carry Tew, from what I can find AWM and MTW and some THHN carry the 105c rating now in some cases.

I guess I just need to know what type of wire is being used in them now or what I can use.
 
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Old 04-03-12, 11:04 AM
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I would replace the heaters with new, modern units. They will not produce the same amount of heat for the same length but they operate at a lower, safer temperature.
 
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Old 04-03-12, 01:00 PM
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Well the boss wants to replace the wire the heaters are otherwise in decent condition, I personally strongly dislike baseboard electric

Ben
 
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Old 04-03-12, 04:39 PM
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You could order almost any type wire you need from any good supply house on 500 foot rolls, I wouldn't do it though. Are these low or high watt density heaters?
 
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Old 04-03-12, 07:05 PM
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I'd use a wire with a high-temperature fiberglass insulation.
 
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Old 04-03-12, 07:36 PM
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THHN wire is only rated 90 degrees as is MTW (dry locations). See NEC table 310.13(A) (2008) for an entire list of general purpose conductors. You might also want to look at fixture wires (Art. 402) many of which have a high temp rating.
 
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Old 04-05-12, 10:19 AM
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Right although I read Southwire's THHN carries AWM rating of 105C dry.

We found 150C wire for 49 cents a foot so he is going to order that.

As far as being high density heaters, the 6 foot heaters are 1500 5 foot are 1000 and the 3 foot are 350. the ones that are the worst are the 3 foot heaters
 
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Old 04-05-12, 05:27 PM
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Normally low watt density heaters are 188 watts/Foot and high watt density heaters are 250 watts/Foot.
 
 

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