Flat Submersible Pump Cable 3 x 6 + 1 x 6 AWG

Flat Submersible Pump Cable with Full-Size Ground

This flat submersible pump cable carries three EPR-insulated phase conductors and one insulated grounding conductor side by side under a single blue CPE jacket. It powers deep-well submersible pumps, fixed mine dewatering pumps and other submerged equipment, and it is built to the construction of a UL 44 Section 7 deep-well submersible water-pump cable, with the jacket and ampacity basis of ICEA S-75-381 / NEMA WC 58.

The lead build is 3 x 6 AWG + 1 x 6 AWG: the grounding conductor is the same size as the phase conductors. UL 44 only sets a minimum ground size, and for 6 AWG phases that minimum is 8 AWG, so a full-size 6 AWG ground carries a clear margin for fault current and for long drop lengths. We supplied this build to a project in Peru.

The conductors are uncoated annealed copper in fine rope-lay stranding, with a separator tape under 90 °C EPR insulation. The heavy-duty thermoset CPE jacket resists water, oil, ozone, sunlight and flame, and it stays flexible from −40 °C. The flat profile keeps the cable close to the drop pipe inside the well casing.

The range runs from 6 AWG to 500 kcmil, 600/2000 V, on 300 m reels, with blue as the standard jacket colour and a print legend made to your order. UL and MSHA approval details for this construction are provided with the quotation.

Flat Submersible Pump Cable Construction

Why the lead build has a full-size ground

UL 44 treats the grounding conductor in a deep-well pump cable as optional, but where one is fitted it must be insulated, of the same insulation type as the phase conductors, and not smaller than the size UL 44 Table 35.1 sets for the phase size. For 6 AWG phases that minimum is 8 AWG. The 3 x 6 AWG + 1 x 6 AWG build goes one step further and makes the ground the same size as the phases. That is the arrangement to specify when the pump motor sits at the end of a long drop, when the protective device needs a low-impedance fault path to clear quickly, or when the project standard simply asks for a full-size ground. Larger sizes in the table carry the standard grounding conductors listed; a full-size ground can be built on request for any of them.

Why flat, and why EPR and CPE

Laying the four cores in one row keeps the cable thin in one direction, so it sits close to the drop pipe and takes less of the annular space inside the well casing than a round cable of the same size. The EPR insulation is rated for a 90 °C conductor, and the thermoset CPE jacket does not soften with heat the way thermoplastic jackets do.

The cable is a UL 44 Section 7 deep-well submersible water-pump cable. UL 44 assigns no type letters to that class, and the construction is neither an ICEA Type W cable, which has no grounding conductor, nor an ICEA flat Type G cable, which has two. For a flat cable that travels with mobile equipment instead of hanging in a well, see our four-conductor flat Type W mining cable.

Applications and Installation

• Deep-well submersible water pumps for municipal, agricultural and industrial supply.
• Fixed mine dewatering installations - boreholes, shaft pumps and fixed sumps - where the CPE jacket's oil resistance and the full-size ground matter.
• Submersible motors and other electrical equipment installed in water and left in place.

A pump that is lifted, dragged or reeled in and out regularly needs a portable cable instead: see our four-conductor flat Type W mining cable for that duty.

UL 44 describes this class of cable as intended for use within the well casing to wire deep-well water pumps, where the cable is not subject to repetitive handling. It is designed for continuous immersion in wells up to 500 m deep; the suspension method, splices and terminations are confirmed for each project, because they, not the jacket, usually decide how deep a string can go. A cable that is reeled in and out or dragged with a machine belongs to the portable cable family instead.

Installation practice

• Pay the cable off the reel in a straight line without twisting it; a flat cable should never be pulled off over the reel flange.
• Strap it to the drop pipe at the intervals the pump manufacturer specifies, so the pipe, not the splices or the motor leads, carries the cable's weight. The table weights multiplied by the setting depth give that hanging load; for the 3 x 6 + 1 x 6 AWG build, use the weight confirmed on the order drawing.
• Keep pulling loads below the maximum pulling tension listed for the size.
• Join the cable to the motor leads with a splice kit rated for continuous submersion, and test the insulation resistance before the string is lowered and again after splicing.
• For a pump motor on a variable-frequency drive, confirm the maximum cable length and any output filtering with the drive manufacturer. Long unfiltered drive outputs produce voltage peaks well above the supply voltage, and the drive and pump manufacturers set the filter and cable-length limits.

Reference: Peru project

The 3 x 6 AWG + 1 x 6 AWG build with a blue CPE jacket was supplied to a project in Peru.

What to send with an enquiry

• Phase size, and whether the ground should be the standard size or full size.
• System voltage, motor power and full-load current.
• Setting depth plus the horizontal run from the wellhead to the control panel.
• Casing inside diameter and drop pipe size, so the flat width can be checked for clearance.
• Water temperature and any oil, hydrocarbon or mine-water exposure.
• Starting method: across the line, soft starter or variable-frequency drive.
• Reel length or continuous lengths per well, print legend and destination port.

Buyer questions

What does 3 x 6 + 1 x 6 AWG mean?

Three 6 AWG phase conductors plus one 6 AWG grounding conductor. The second figure is the ground size, so 3 x 6 + 1 x 6 AWG has a full-size ground, while a label such as 3 x 6 AWG + 8 AWG means a reduced ground: 8 AWG is the smallest grounding conductor UL 44 allows with 6 AWG phases.

Does a submersible pump cable need a full-size ground?

Not by UL 44, which sets a minimum: 8 AWG for 6 AWG phases. A full-size ground is chosen when the drop is long, when the protective device needs a low-impedance fault path to clear a fault quickly, or when the project standard requires it. The lead build on this page has one.

What does 600/2000 V mean on this cable?

It is a dual marking. 600 V is the rating under UL 44, which this insulation thickness meets. 2000 V is the class of ICEA S-75-381 / NEMA WC 58 portable power cable, which covers constructions rated 2,000 volts or less. The quotation confirms which rating applies to your installation.

How many amps can 6 AWG submersible pump cable carry?

87 A at 30 °C ambient and 79 A at 40 °C ambient, for three loaded conductors at a 90 °C conductor temperature in free air; the bases are NEC Table 400.5(A)(2) and ICEA S-75-381 Table H-1. Where the authority having jurisdiction applies NEC Table 310.16 instead, the figure is 75 A. Derate for cable on a reel, bundled, or in warm water.

Flat or round submersible pump cable: which is better?

For a cable that hangs in a well and stays there, flat is the usual choice. It is thinner in one direction, so it leaves more clearance in the casing and straps flat against the drop pipe. Round cable resists twisting better where the cable is handled repeatedly.

Can PVC submersible pump wire be used instead?

Yes, for small pumps in cool, clean water. PVC submersible pump wire is usually rated for a 75 °C conductor, so the same size carries less current - 65 A against 75 A at 6 AWG in NEC Table 310.16 - and thermoplastic softens with heat. EPR/CPE is the choice for larger motors, hot or oily water, mine dewatering and cold surface runs.

How deep can the cable be installed?

It is designed for continuous immersion in wells up to 500 m deep. The practical limit is usually set by how the string is supported, the splices and the terminations, so the setting depth is confirmed with the quotation.

How is it delivered?

On 300 m (984 ft) reels as standard, with blue as the standard jacket colour and a print legend made to your specification. Continuous lengths matched to each well can be supplied so that there is no intermediate splice in the drop.

Related cables

For pump-set selection across voltages see our submersible pump motor cable overview. For potable-water wells built to European standards see Drincable 600 potable water pump cable and the H07RN8-F submersible pump cable. Mining-cable catalogue names from other manufacturers are mapped in our mining cable designation cross-reference.

Reference note: enquiries arriving marked AQUAFLEX or HYDROFLEX for a flat EPR/CPE pump cable are handled on this page.

Trademark note: AQUAFLEX® and HYDROFLEX® are trademarks of their respective owners, and TEBAOFLEX is neither affiliated with those companies nor reselling their cable. We manufacture this flat EPR/CPE pump cable to the UL 44 and ICEA S-75-381 construction basis described on this page, and every size listed here can be quoted and supplied as a TEBAOFLEX build. Where a specification names another manufacturer's product, send it with the enquiry and the construction is compared parameter by parameter before anything is offered against it.

Flat Submersible Pump Cable Specifications

Sizes and technical data

The first column carries the full size so that each row can be read on its own: phase conductors first, grounding conductor second. The 3 x 6 AWG + 1 x 6 AWG build has a full-size ground, so its thickness, width and weight are custom and are confirmed on the order drawing.

The last column is inductance, not reactance. At 60 Hz the reactance is 2πfL, so 0.343 mH/km at 6 AWG is about 0.129 Ω/km, and 0.278 mH/km at 500 kcmil is about 0.105 Ω/km.

Ampacities are for three current-carrying conductors at a 90 °C conductor temperature, for a single cable in free air. The 40 °C column follows ICEA S-75-381 / NEMA WC 58 Annex H, Table H-1. The 30 °C column follows NEC Table 400.5(A)(2), 90 °C, column F; at 400 kcmil the NEC value is 468 A, which is why that row does not scale exactly with the ICEA figure. Derate for cable left on a reel, bundled, enclosed, or run in warm water or air.

Where the authority having jurisdiction applies NEC Table 310.16

A UL 44 pump cable is built from conductor types covered by NEC Article 310, so the authority having jurisdiction may assess it on Table 310.16 rather than Table 400.5(A)(2). The lower values below then apply; state the basis your project requires in the enquiry.

Voltage drop: a worked example

Voltage drop on a three-phase run is √3 × current × conductor resistance × length. Take a 30 hp, 460 V three-phase pump motor, whose full-load current in NEC Table 430.250 is 40 A, on 6 AWG. NEC Chapter 9, Table 8 gives 0.491 Ω per 1000 ft (1.61 Ω/km) for stranded uncoated copper at 75 °C, so each metre drops 1.732 × 40 × 0.00161 = 0.11 V. A 3 % limit, 13.8 V, is reached at about 124 m (about 406 ft) of cable, counting the drop and the horizontal run together. Fine flexible stranding runs slightly above that tabulated resistance, so treat the figure as an upper bound and check it against the pump manufacturer's cable-length tables, which also allow for motor starting.

Weight per standard reel

Standards and Approvals

UL and MSHA approval details for this construction are provided with the quotation, and routine test reports are supplied with the order documents. The standards above describe the construction and the rating basis; if a project needs a particular listing marked on the cable, state it in the enquiry and we will confirm what is supplied.