Control wire for VXT-24

handson

Is CAT-3 wire adequate for wiring a VXT-24 to Safgard 400 or does the solenoid require a heavier gauge?

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Jamie Hall

It might work

but why?  If I were doing it, I'd use 12 or 14 gauge in metal armor (BX) cable.  To be honest, I'd be rather upset if I came to look at an installation and saw CAT 3 -- or bell wire, or any other low voltage light gauge -- wire being used for anything except the thermostat wiring.



But I'm a little conservative...

Steamhead

Cat3 is too small

26 or 24 AWG if memory serves. For this 24-volt feeder, you want 18-gauge thermostat wire at minimum. Inspectors here seem to be OK with that as long as it's properly secured.



But it there's any chance the wire could be abused, BX is the way to go.

Jean-David Beyer

But it there's any chance the wire could be abused, BX is the way to go.

In my house, my main thermostat wire to the boiler is BX.

The reason for that is in the old setup with the old boiler, the thermostat ran the 3-piece circulator directly with no relay.



Guess what happened when someone gave me a surplus digital thermostat and, without testing, I just hooked it up? That's right. I am glad I did not have to pay for it. Now it is all 24 volt, but the BX is still in there. Hard to hook up to the little screws on modern thermostats though. And the electrician wanted to pull smaller thermostat wire for it because this wire was too big and would not work right. Or so he said. I convinced him not to, and he did not really want to anyway. He would have had to dig through a lot of plaster and get it replastered. I do not even know if there are such things as people who do plastering anymore.

Jamie Hall

There are

plasterers still around.  I have a nice but crazy Italian who does work for me when it's needed.  You just don't want to have to pay for it...