Electrical Wire Flex Blog

You may know that we stock reels of electrical wire flex and cable in store but what’s the difference you may ask?

 

The first difference to recognise is the difference between Flex and Cable.

 

Flex is the type of electrical wiring that most of us would be more used to seeing. It is the wiring that attaches our appliances to the plugs. It is flexible and easy to move.

 

Cable is a lot more stiff and doesn’t move as easily as electrical flex does. Cable is used in the wiring of houses. It isn’t generally moved after installation.

 

When buying new electrical wire flex you have the option of buying different conductor sizes.  This is the measure of how much electricity the wire can comfortably carry. In making your choice in this regard you should know what kind of wattage or amp the appliance is that you require the wire to charge.

 

[caption id="attachment_1494" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Choosing which flex - conductor size A rough guide to wire conductor size and appliances[/caption]

 

You will also notice with the electrical wire flex that there is a choice in the number of cores in the flex. You will find that almost all appliances need a three core flex. This is because most appliances needs an earth wire as well as the live and neutral wire as they are in metal cases.

Two core flexes are used for double insulated appliances. A double insulated appliance will have the symbol (5).

 

Most will know the colour of the wires; Brown for live, Blue for neutral and Yellow and Green for the earth wire. However, if you are replacing an old electrical flex it may be slightly more confusing as the colours have changed. Old wiring used to have a green wire for the earth ( now yellow & green), the live wire used to be red (now brown) and the neutral wire was black (now brown).

 

Hopefully this will help when it comes to knowing what to look for when buying electrical flex but if you are ever in doubt, ask one of our experts in store who will be more than happy to help.

Tags: wiring flexible cable electrical wire electric cable