Feeder cable to panels and switchgear, 600 V to 1 kV

The cable between the service and the panel

Feeder cable carries current from a service entrance, a switchboard or a transformer secondary out to panels and switchgear. In an Ohio plant it is normally two to four conductors with a ground, copper or aluminum, insulated in XLPE or EPR and jacketed in PVC. Sizes start around 1/0 for a small panel feed and climb to 750 kcmil on a main.

It is often confused with branch-circuit wire, and the difference explains why a feeder lot gets reviewed at all. Feeder is ordered in long lengths and pulled as a set. Branch wire is ordered in coils and used up. A storehouse clearing feeder usually clears whole reels and half reels, each still tagged with the run it was bought for.

Parallel runs change the arithmetic

When one conductor will not carry the load, the design uses parallel sets: two, three or four identical runs per phase, pulled side by side between the same two pieces of equipment. Parallel conductors must match in size, length, insulation and termination, so the contractor buys the sets together and buys a little over.

The result is a recognizable lot: several reels of one construction, one size, one jacket print, all from a single order. Some have been partly pulled, some were never opened. A set like that is worth more kept together than split, and a review should treat it as one item until the footage says otherwise.

Pull lengths and the cut-offs they leave

A long pull from a switchgear room to a remote panel room takes most of a reel and leaves a remnant. The tag still reads the manufactured footage, which is exactly why tags mislead. The reel on the floor may hold a fraction of what the tag promises.

A cut-off from a pull is usually in good shape. The cable was paid out through sheaves, cut square and taped, and nothing dragged it across concrete. What spoils it afterwards is storage: a remnant rolled into a corner of a yard, stood on its edge in gravel, open end up, taking water through a wet summer before anyone asks about it.

• Jacket print showing size and insulation type
• Reel tag compared against measured length
• Full-size ground conductor still present
• Cut ends taped and dry inside the wrap
• Reels stored upright on blocking, not on gravel

What the review actually asks

Identification comes first. A feeder that has lost its print to abrasion or sunlight becomes a construction guess, and a guess is treated as one. Insulation type matters because XHHW-2 and RHW-2 are rated for wet locations where older RHW is not, and that changes who can use the cable.

After that the questions are ordinary. Is the jacket continuous, or has it been scuffed through at a tray support? Has water reached the strands at an open end? Is the ground full size and bonded to the assembly? Feeder pulled through tray often shows a bright scuff and a flattened jacket where it crossed a support, and that is the first place to look.