Which Type of Wire is good for House Electrical Work?

There are lots of good brands of electrical wires available in the India. But in this blog, we will discuss what type of cable rather than the brand that you need to go for your house electrical wiring.

Here are some of the general guidelines you need to take care of when you are planning to buy cables for your house.

Guideline-1: Choose the Right Type of Cable for your requirement

Every brand which produces house electrical wiring has multiple products types available in house wire category. Some of the types of house electrical wiring available are:

FR (Fire Retardant) wires
EFFR (FR PVC Extra flexible) wires
HFFR (Halogen Free Flame Retardant) wires
FRLS (Fire Retardant and Low Smoke) wires
FRLSH (Fire Retardant Low Smoke and Low Halogen) wires

When choosing any electrical socket or switch or a wire, keep a general guideline that the material should be fire rated for atleast 2 hours.

The majority of fire-related deaths are caused by smoke inhalation of the toxic gases produced by fires. So when choosing a cable you can definetly go for a cable that emits less smoke. The last 2 types of cables that we have mentioned in the above types are low smoke cables.

So while you are planning to buy house wires for your house construction, you can choose the any one of these cable as per your requirement and the budget you can allocate. The above wires are given in the ascending order of their costs. So, FRLSH has all the best features but will be costlier than others.

Guideline-2: Copper wire Thickness

One of the main concern people face when they buy house wires is that the thickness of the copper conductor is not as mentioned on the box. Many of these big brands are reliable in India.

You can do a quick test before you buying any wire. Check the number of copper strands that are present in a wire by counting them individually. This should match with the number mentioned on the box.

Guideline-3: Buy the right size of cable requried

Whenever you are planning for your house electrification work, you need to always buy the right size of cable/wire for the appliance you are connecting it to.

The reason is, if you are connecting a cable that is too small (in cross section area) as compared to the load its carrying, the cable gets heated up and will result in damage of the cable.

So as a general guideline use the following cable sizes for the different types of switches or sockets you are connecting in the house.

S.No	Cable Size	Cable Type	Connection
1	1.5 Sqmm	Copper	Lighting & Fan
2	2.5 Sqmm	Copper	<13 A sockets
3	4.0 – 6.0 Sqmm	Copper	Water Heater, Cooker, Mortar, AC etc.,