What is the difference between cl3 and cl2 wire

It is because of these characteristics that they are considered safe to run through areas that will give or take air from populated areas as they will not release toxic chemicals into the air for people attempting to evacuate to breathe in.

A Plenum rated cable should be able to take the place of any CL2 or CL3 cable, though, as always, we recommend contacting your code enforcement office as these cables to tend to be more expensive and would serve no real purpose if a CL2 or CL3 cable is all that is needed.

These ratings are very similar to the previously discussed CL2, CL3 and Plenum, but are given specifically to network cables due to their lower wattage. CM cables share the same values as CL2 and CL3 cables, in that they are most often accepted for simple in wall installation.

CMR, sometimes called Riser rating, is usually required for network cables that will span one or more floors. CMR cables are treated and tested to prevent a fire from travelling along the cable itself, insuring that the cable will not allow a fire to quickly span several floors quickly.

CMP is the equivalent of a plenum rated cable. As always, we advise contacting your local code enforcement for specifics on which of these cables you are able to use in whatever installation you plan on using them with. We offer all three of these cables types with various Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6a cables. All of the fire safety ratings we have mentioned so far are for copper based cables. We are often asked if our optical cables are able to be run in wall.

The brief answer is, yes they are. Standard PVC is not designed for use in the plenum areas of a building, as this material does omit toxic smoke when exposed to fire.

This type of material is listed as the jacket material on the spec sheet for most PC cables and wires. Rip Cord : This is a cord of strong yarn that is used to split the outer jacket of a cable, allowing access to the insulated conductors inside. Bulk fiber network cable will typically include a rip cord, but jacket rip cords can also be found in other types of wire as well.

Rip cord is also used to describe split cables that can be pulled apart to strip back individual ends in cables such as speaker wire and lamp cords. Riser : A "riser rated" cable is designed for cable runs in non-plenum areas of a building, such as through cable risers between floors.

An elevator shaft is also considered a "riser" area. These spaces cannot be used for environmental air or as part of the heating or cooling system of the building. A cable will get a "riser" rating if it self-extinguishes during a vertical burn test, which will prevent the flame from traveling up the cable. STP : This stands for "shielded twisted pair", and refers to a type of network cable shielding where each individual pair of wires in a four-pair network cable has its own aluminum shield.

This is different than the more-common FTP, which provides for a single aluminum shield to cover all the wires. Temperature Rating : The temperature rating of a cable, usually written as a minimum and maximum in degrees Celsius. This rating tells the user where the wire can and cannot be used in regards to the environment. If the wire is used in an environment outside the listed temperature rating, the wire may not perform as intended, or may fail altogether.

Temperature ratings can usually be found written on a cables outer jacket. Tensile Strength : This is a test of the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched before ultimately failing under pressure. This becomes an important factor when pulling wire through walls or stringing wire through the air. If you pull a wire past its limit, the wire can either break or become deformed, possibly hurting the wire's performance.

Tinned Copper : Copper wire that has a thin layer of tin, electroplated onto the outside. Tinning copper is usually done for cost-cutting reasons, as less copper is used in place of tin. Tin is also easier to solder than copper. While use of tinned copper does have its place in some wire configurations, most of the time using tinned copper in place of pure copper is seen as cutting corners to save money. With many types of wire, using tinned copper can cause unsafe conditions such as fire risks or may cause the wire to under perform.

Ethernet cable, for example, is required to be pure copper in order to pass safety and performance certifications. Tolerance : Refers to a manufacturer's rule for allowable size or length of deviation from the specifications set forth for a particular cable.

Listing a tolerance is important as there are always slight variations that occur during the manufacturing process, so cables will vary in length by a small amount.

UL : This stands for Underwriters Laboratories. This independent organization sets the standard for both electronic and electrical materials in the United States. UL creates safety standards for products that manufacturers must follow in order to display the UL logo on their product.

Products that do not follow the UL standards could pose a fire risk or other safety concerns. UL creates standards for everything from wire and cables to smoke detectors and batteries. Wire gauge and materials used in construction of a product is a couple of the aspects of manufacturing for which UL lists safety standards. UTP : This is the abbreviation for "Unshielded Twisted Pair" Ethernet cables, which means the cable has no shield surrounding the twisted pair wires inside of the cable.

UTP is commonly found in the description of the cable, and can sometimes be found on the Ethernet jacket itself. These are the most commonly used cables for Ethernet connections in areas where there is little interference from other devices. Voltage Rating : A voltage rating is a numerical number that a wire assembly can safely operate within. The conductor itself and the outer jacket are given a voltage rating number.

This number is not the maximum voltage of safe operation, but a smaller percentage of the maximum. You can expect to operate a continuous load at the voltage rating number. The voltage rating that is stamped on the cable jacket itself refers to the amount of voltage the jacket can absorb, not the wires inside of the cable.

Voltage ratings are commonly found on power cables such as extension cords or TV power cables. VW-1 : The VW-1 rating written on a cable specifies the flammability of the outer jacket. It is a standardized test to measure how the outer jacket responds when exposed to a flame in a vertical orientation hence the abbreviation VW vertical wire.

VW-1 will be found on the jacket of the cable if it has a VW-1 rating. The only difference between them is CL3 speaker wires can take volts, compared to volts of CL2 speaker wires. But the question is, what are these specific wires used for? These wires are specifically used for running wires through walls and ceilings. Their application is meant for low-voltage stuff. Examples of low-voltage are simple fans, compressors, and conveyor belts.

Riser Rated Riser rated cable is used between floors. This means the material in the cables can cause humans cancer.