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How do I shrink heatshrink in an explosion proof room? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I'm not sure what the right community for this is but I'm hoping yall can help. I'm a refrigeration service tech and recently I was tasked with replacing a sensor in a room used to store ethanol drums. Due to the nature of the room every device in it had to be rated explosion proof and I couldn't use any tools that could pose any risk of ignition (no heat gun, basically nothing with an electric motor, and definitely no open flames) while working in there. Normally when I splice wires I use heatshrink to cover the splice simply because it looks far more professional than electrical tape and it holds up better over time. However in this case I could not figure out any way of shrinking said heatshrink without posing a potential ignition hazard so I was stuck just wrapping the splice in tape. We do a lot of work for this company so I'm hoping to find a better solution for the next time I am in a similar situation.

So do any of you know any way to shrink heatshrink without posing an ignition hazard or am I stuck just using tape in those situations?

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Maybe you can get your hands on cold shrink tubing? It's a rubbery tube stretched over a plastic frame thingy. You pull the frame out and the rubber shrinks down. No heat needed.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Posts like these are why Lemmy will surpass Reddit. ~~No ads~~, no bullshit. Thank you for posting this answer!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I mean, I kinda did post an ad as an example, lol. But it was the most concise video I could find in like 30 seconds of looking! I am in no way shilling for whoever the company was. Any cold shrink brand will be more or less equivalent.

And you're welcome! I do like being helpful in areas I know things about.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I had never heard of that. Definitely going to look into it now though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

If you can't source that, you could use EPR tape

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's very expensive, but it would probably be the best option when you can't use heat.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

In this case they can pass the cost onto the customer. The higher restrictions will always result in higher costs, so they're probably used to it.