Water Infiltration in Common Residential and Commercial Power Cables Introduced by Capillary Action

Damage to electrical power cables caused by complete or partial immersion in flood water in residential and commercial settings is a potentially serious safety concern. Electrical cables with unsealed ends are known to be susceptible to moisture infiltration via capillary action, however, there appears to be a lack of published experimental study of this phenomenon in cables commonly found in residential and commercial installations. This article presents the results of an experiment to quantify the extent of moisture infiltration in service entrance power cables. We cut straight 15 cm long cable sections with open ends from a reel of newly-purchased compact strand aluminum 4/0 XHHW cable. One end of each vertically oriented cable section was left submerged in 2.5 cm of an oxidizing liquid solution for several days. We observed evidence of water infiltration into the cable up to 7 cm above the initial liquid level. The ultimate extent of liquid infiltration and the progression of infiltration over time is expected to depend on the specifics of the cable geometry, design, termination style, and materials.