page_title: Armoured cable
section_title: Use of armour for earthing
hierarchical_section_title: Armoured cable / Use of armour for earthing
caption_attribution_description: English: Bowden cable: steel wires and teflon housing
context_page_description: In electrical power distribution, armoured cable usually means steel wire armoured cable which is a hard-wearing power cable designed for the supply of mains electricity. It is one of a number of armoured electrical cables – which include 11 kV Cable and 33 kV Cable – and is found in underground systems, power networks and cable ducting.
  Aluminium can also be used for armouring, and historically iron was used. Armouring is also applied to submarine communications cables.
context_section_description: The use of the armour as the means of providing earthing to the equipment supplied by the cable (a function technically known as the circuit protective conductor or CPC) is a matter of debate within the electrical installation industry. It is sometimes the case that an additional core within the cable is specified as the CPC (for instance, instead of using a two core cable for line and neutral and the armouring as the CPC, a three core cable is used) or an external earth wire is run alongside the cable to serve as the CPC. Primary concerns are the relative conductivity of the armouring compared to the cores (which reduces as the cable size increases) and reliability issues. Recent articles by authoritative sources have analysed the practice in detail and concluded that, for the majority of situations, the armouring is adequate to serve as the CPC under UK wiring regulations.
caption: cable with light armouring
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