Asbestos wire

[TimMiller]

I was cleaning out the barn and found several spools of 8 awg copper high temp wire. The wire has a white outer sleeve that looks like it may be asbestos. On the spool it says glass fiber or something like that, I will try to get pics. I would guess these spools are from the 60's old blue metal Belden spools. Did they move away from aesbestos wire by then or did they have fiberglass with asbestos in it? Under the sleeve it looks like some kind of rubber material. I was just curious if this was some stuff that I should keep laying around for some project or just get rid of. I can take some pics later.

 

[JD]

I was cleaning out the barn and found several spools of 8 awg copper high temp wire. The wire has a white outer sleeve that looks like it may be asbestos. On the spool it says glass fiber or something like that, I will try to get pics. I would guess these spools are from the 60's old blue metal Belden spools. Did they move away from aesbestos wire by then or did they have fiberglass with asbestos in it? Under the sleeve it looks like some kind of rubber material. I was just curious if this was some stuff that I should keep laying around for some project or just get rid of. I can take some pics later.

Does not sound like Asbestos. A common high-temp wire was Silicon rubber covered with a braided fiberglass. (glass fiber.) Some call it "aviation wire" because it is commonly used in planes. Nice stuff if you are doing wiring inside a rack, but it does not hold up well when in a rough environment. The braid breaks apart and the silicon is too squishy and is cut through rather easily. It can take a lot of heat though!