The AC installers(mostly electricians) all use it here,normally they use the smaller size for cheapness,but it doesn't comply,but they don't care.
I am sure when i went to school,one wasn't allowed to drop cable size,without also dropping the breaker size?
We still use orange circular,and its in conduit where its exposed,unlike others around here.Conduit must be bloody expensive....
But we don't do many AC installs,lucky to do one a month.
Anyway,rules are changing in Qld,the sparkies won't be doing any installs,or allowed to do any AC work,anymore,unless they have completed the full 4 year Refrig and AC apprenticeship.
Why they were ever allowed to get into our trade,and wreck part of it,who knows.
Some desk jockey must have thought it was a good idea,probably a bored public servant,no doubt.
A really dumb decision,that has now been reversed.
As I mentioned at the start, Blue coloured cable is used for intrinsically safe circuits, usually in hazardous areas. But my experience with that was on European equipment, not in Australia.
The Yanks tend to use "explosion proof" equipment in hazardous areas. Bloody great cast junction boxes and cement sealed cable glands. More modern compression type glands are also now in use. Sometimes they also use air pressurised containment if there is a "clean" air supply.
The Europeans are a bit more sophisticated and tend to installed switchgear and suchlike away from hazardous zones, and use intrinsically safe control circuits with Blue coloured wiring.
Conducter size,as an example,if there is, say,a 20A circuit,2.5mm cable,the interconnects must be 2.5mm as well,unless fused in the unit.In fact with a Daikin,the interconnects 240V power go into same terminals as 240v coming into unit,on all the smaller,single phase domestic models.
So cable size can not be dropped down unless the breaker for that circuit is reduced to 16A or less.
But most installers use the 1.5mm cable cos its cheap....and they don't understand the logics of it all.
Fuses,many young ones wouldn't know what they are.
Bloody hard to get simple off set tag fuses these days,yet alone bolt or screw ins.And they are very expensive.
Remember the days when we had to stand back,and put in one 3 phase fuse,then quickly put in the other two?
All fun and games,the young blokes these days would say,WTF are you doing
I have seen sparkies,years ago do this with huge fuses.
I hear the same sad story over hear in WA
“Why are sparkies doing a job that should only be done by qualified refrigeration mechanics”
There are a couple of reasons
1. Installation of a split system AC isn’t rocket science, even people who aren’t sparkies do a two week course and can do it
2. Relates to reason number 1. You’ve been sold out by your governing body
A money grab
No discredit to (most) fridgies, but you should not be playing with electricity unless you’ve done a 4 year electrical apprenticeship, you may (think you) know what your doing but as an electrician I will stand up for my trade no bars hold (or is that no holes barred) and defend the fact that if you want a restricted electrical license then you should allow us to do some restricted refrigeration works
I partitioned NECA into putting pressure on the master plumbers and gasfitters association to reinstate a restricted plumbers license for replacement of electric hot water systems after it was revoked because a few plumbers had a winge about sparkies being allowed to swap over electric hot water systems
Same Same but different
No doubt others will have a different view on things but anyways
Life is such
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1985 110 Dual Cab 4.6 R380 ARB Lockers (currently NIS due to roof kissing road)
1985 110 Station Wagon 3.5 LT85 (unmolested blank canvas)
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