Chatham County · Medium voltage cable
We buy medium voltage cable in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah medium voltage cable rarely fails from age first. It fails from water that entered an unsealed end and sat against the strand for two summers.
- Chatham County
- 5 kV to 35 kV shielded
- Ends and shields checked
01Why water, not age, decides a coastal reel
Why water, not age, decides a coastal reel
Medium voltage cable is built to keep water out, and it only takes one breached end. A reel stored on open ground here collects rain in the exposed conductor, and the water wicks along the strand under the semicon screen until it sits against the insulation. In XLPE that produces water trees — branching paths in the dielectric that grow under voltage stress and do not heal.
So a reel made years later can be the worse reel. The date on the tag matters less than where the reel stood. Writing up a lot, put those facts in that order: where it was stored, whether the ends were capped, whether it stood in water.
02Where the cable sits in Savannah
Where the cable sits in Savannah
Port work carries medium voltage into container yards, cold storage and the warehouse campuses around Garden City, Pooler and Rincon. Aircraft manufacturing near the airport, hospital infrastructure and the older industrial ground along the river all run 15 kV class distribution. Hunter Army Airfield runs its own system behind its own gate.
- Feeder cable from port and warehouse service upgrades, mostly 15 kV
- Plant distribution, some of it 5 kV and still in service
- Riser and lead cable released when a transformer or switchgear is replaced
- Project leftovers bought for a phase that was resequenced
A coil with no reel and no tag is a different lot from a tagged reel. Send it separately rather than in the same photographs.
03The evidence a coastal lot needs
The evidence a coastal lot needs
Photograph the tag, the whole reel, and one cut end close enough to read the shield and the strand. Add a length of jacket with a bend in it — a jacket that has gone chalky and cracks at the bend has been in the sun for years.
Say whether the cable has been energized. Pulled cable is not the same lot as cable that was never installed, and the ends show it: pulled cable is cut, taped, and often re-reeled tighter than the manufacturer allowed.
Steel banding rusts through here before the cable fails. If the bands have gone, say so, because the reel has to be re-banded before it moves.
04Collection around the port and the airfield
Collection around the port and the airfield
Port drayage near Garden City Terminal runs on its own clock, so a truck that has to cross those lanes leaves at an agreed hour rather than whenever the trailer is loaded. Yards in Pooler, Rincon and Richmond Hill are simpler: fenced, a forklift on site, daylight hours. On the airfield side the gate process is the job — authorization, an escort and a cleared vehicle.
A large MV reel needs a crane or a boom truck, not a forklift. Say what the reel weighs and what handling equipment is on site.
05Related
06Questions
Savannah questions
Do you buy 15 kV cable that has been in service?
Yes. In-service cable is reviewed on the ends and the jacket rather than on the date code, and cable cut out of a duct is treated as short lengths unless the runs were long.
Can a reel that got wet still be reused?
Sometimes, if the ends were capped and the water never reached the strand. If the conductor is discolored under the screen or the shield is corroded through, the lot moves to recovery.
What if the reel tag is missing?
The cable can still be identified from the jacket print and a measured diameter, which gives size and insulation wall. Footage then has to be counted from the wrap layers.
Send the coastal medium voltage lot
Voltage class, conductor size, how the reel was stored and whether the ends were capped. Photographs of the tag and one cut end answer most of the rest.