purple wire life expectancy | Equipment Q&A | Spray Foam Technical Questions and Answers | SprayFoam Magazine Q&A Forums

Q&A Forums

Author	Comments
kyle welch Posted: Aug 13, 2014 04:33 PM	purple wire life expectancy I just signed up for this website today! And am excited for the insight and help forthcoming from all! I have 150 ft of hose on my rig. The hose was purchased used back in 2011. The hose was originally purchased new in 2002. I retrofit attics in arizona and I am experiencing quit a few issues with the purple wire(s) as this has been "learn as you go" for me and we've put the hose thru hell and back. What is the life expectancy for this wire/hose. As I am now experiencing breaks internally in the wires and it's not visible. I'm trying to prevent that from happening again. Thanks!
Jeffery Persac Posted: Aug 15, 2014 02:27 PM	Wrap up your hose with saran wrap then a couple of layers of duct tape. 2 conductor shielded cable should not be to hard to find. Try home security or custom audio stores as a last resort- much cheaper than the purple stuff, and works just as good to get you out of a bind...i have even used microphone cable before, the heavier gauged type.
SprayFoamSupply.com Posted: Aug 18, 2014 05:20 PM	The FTS wire life expectancy is going to vary dramatically from rig to rig! Are you an owner operator who carefully unrolls and rolls the hose each day? Or do you own a large company, pay your employees piece rate, and have them yank, pull, kick, hang from the hose, etc? We sell thousands of feet of Graco hose a year, and very little of the FTS wire, so replacing it is not a very common thing. I would not recommend using any ole wire. It is a special alloy of material to give a specific resistance. Sure, you can use any wire, save a couple of bucks and get a reading, but it will not be as accurate as the proper wire and being off 10-20 degrees will cost you in the long run. George
Jeffery Persac Posted: Aug 20, 2014 01:44 PM	George is very correct with that. I should have stated that these were things I did to “hurry and get the job done”- (a bad practice). They are not the proper and permanent solutions. I don’t like disconnecting the FTS and running it in “amps mode”, but it works just as good, none the less. (I started out on an old HF-1600, we could turn it down to 2 amps if needed- Reactors start at 20 amps). Also, anytime you do repair work to the FTS system it’s always a good measure to re-calibrate it at the head.(For different lengths and types of hoses). I personally don’t care for all that wrap on the hose because it makes heavy and stiff but, it's good temporary protection and it keeps the scuff jacket from snagging on everything at the job-site. Take care of your hose above all- especially if you own it, and watch it carefully around corners and duct straps. It always pays off to have a couple of extra hands on it. Work it like a fire hose, (keep it straight and untwisted as possible)... -jepperoo

Author

Comments

kyle welch

Posted: Aug 13, 2014 04:33 PM

purple wire life expectancy

I just signed up for this website today! And am excited for the insight and help forthcoming from all! I have 150 ft of hose on my rig. The hose was purchased used back in 2011. The hose was originally purchased new in 2002. I retrofit attics in arizona and I am experiencing quit a few issues with the purple wire(s) as this has been "learn as you go" for me and we've put the hose thru hell and back. What is the life expectancy for this wire/hose. As I am now experiencing breaks internally in the wires and it's not visible. I'm trying to prevent that from happening again. Thanks!

Jeffery Persac

Posted: Aug 15, 2014 02:27 PM

Wrap up your hose with saran wrap then a couple of layers of duct tape.
2 conductor shielded cable should not be to hard to find. Try home security or custom audio stores as a last resort- much cheaper than the purple stuff, and works just as good to get you out of a bind...i have even used microphone cable before, the heavier gauged type.

SprayFoamSupply.com

Posted: Aug 18, 2014 05:20 PM

The FTS wire life expectancy is going to vary dramatically from rig to rig! Are you an owner operator who carefully unrolls and rolls the hose each day? Or do you own a large company, pay your employees piece rate, and have them yank, pull, kick, hang from the hose, etc? We sell thousands of feet of Graco hose a year, and very little of the FTS wire, so replacing it is not a very common thing. I would not recommend using any ole wire. It is a special alloy of material to give a specific resistance. Sure, you can use any wire, save a couple of bucks and get a reading, but it will not be as accurate as the proper wire and being off 10-20 degrees will cost you in the long run.

George

Jeffery Persac

Posted: Aug 20, 2014 01:44 PM

George is very correct with that. I should have stated that these were things I did to “hurry and get the job done”- (a bad practice). They are not the proper and permanent solutions. I don’t like disconnecting the FTS and running it in “amps mode”, but it works just as good, none the less. (I started out on an old HF-1600, we could turn it down to 2 amps if needed- Reactors start at 20 amps). Also, anytime you do repair work to the FTS system it’s always a good measure to re-calibrate it at the head.(For different lengths and types of hoses). I personally don’t care for all that wrap on the hose because it makes heavy and stiff but, it's good temporary protection and it keeps the scuff jacket from snagging on everything at the job-site. Take care of your hose above all- especially if you own it, and watch it carefully around corners and duct straps. It always pays off to have a couple of extra hands on it. Work it like a fire hose, (keep it straight and untwisted as possible)... -jepperoo

You need to login to reply to this topic. Please click here to login.