Shielded, twisted pair wire for Lochinvar cascade feature.

JohnNY

Hello, all. Does anyone have a source for buying a small quantity of shielded, twisted pair wire that I can use to link two boilers?
Many thanks,
John Cataneo

ratio

Around here, one can get a cut of wire at an electrical supply house without too much difficulty, most|all of them carry at least something shielded. Online comes to mind, if you've got time to wait.

A 500' roll of 18/3 stranded shielded plenum-rated wire is only around $100. I know I'd hate to buy that much when I only need a few feet, but if it's a get'r'dun today kind of thing, that might be the fastest, if the electrical supply houses don't want to make a cut for you.

mattmia2

just buy a cat 6a cable. is the actual impedance important?

mattmia2

Also, this place will cut a lot of different cables:
https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/

mattmia2

Looking at the manual, it looks like virtually any shielded 1 pair control cable would work.

hot_rod

I bought this for some solar sensor wiring.

Gary Jansen_4

I would think that most hardware stores and electronic shops would sell it by the foot.
That's how it is in Wisconsin.

That being said, I can't count the number of boilers, including Lochinvar, that I have used standard 18-2 thermostat wire for communication, and it has worked just fine.
Thanks Gary

HVACNUT

Does Lochinvar recommend shielded cable or is there the chance of interference to other equipment?

Zman

Lochinvar recommends it. Controls companies use miles of shielded wire. I usually grab some drops from a buddy that does controls work.

JohnNY

mattmia2 said:

just buy a cat 6a cable. is the actual impedance important?

No, it's not. Thank you.

Gary Jansen_4

How much do you need?
I have tons of the stuff?

mattmia2

The shield usually isn't important until you get in an environment where it is then you end up with weird intermittent issues.

It also might not be to protect its signaling from interference but to keep its emissions within part 15 limits.

HVACNUT

Part 15, part 16. Whatever it takes.

JohnNY

Gary Jansen_4 said:

How much do you need?

I have tons of the stuff?

I need about 7 feet of the stuff but maybe I should just buy a roll.

Gary Jansen_4

I'll send some out today.
Thanks Gary

Gary Jansen_4

If you are cascading 2 lochinvar boilers, then I am assuming you are running a header sensor. And possibly an outdoor sensor.
Do you need the shielded wire for those 2 sensors also?
Thanks Gary

JohnNY

Gary Jansen_4 said:

I'll send some out today.

Thanks Gary

Gary, thank you so much. That's fantastic and very generous of you. The two sensors don't require shielded cable. Again, I'm very grateful.

Wellness

Not sure what Lochinvar's requirements are, but shielded twisted pair cable is often incorrectly provisioned in computer network environments without grounding, thereby defeating the whole purpose of having the shield. It's not simply a matter of terminating the wire leads.

mattmia2

Wellness said:

Not sure what Lochinvar's requirements are, but shielded twisted pair cable is often incorrectly provisioned in computer network environments without grounding, thereby defeating the whole purpose of having the shield. It's not simply a matter of terminating the wire leads.

The shield does block some types of noise without a low impedance at RF connection to ground, but for other types of noise the shield has to be properly prepared and connected to a shielded modular connector or jack.

JohnNY

Received, @Gary Jansen_4 !! Thanks a million! I hope I can do something for you some day.