It can be expensive and dangerous to "save" on the electrical job

Stein helps those who have a complaint about the heating cable. His love for the subject benefits the companies that operate seriously.

After working as an electrician since 1985 and installer Gr L since 1999, Stein Devold-Haagensen started as a product consultant for heating and installation at Nexans a few years ago. Here he has a special responsibility for the aftermarket and complaints.

- I handle the complaints on all our cables in addition to technical calculations and interpretation of regulations in the electrical industry. I help everything from ordinary consumers, insurance companies, wholesalers and the installers themselves. In a complaint case where there is doubt about the cause of the accident, we let the doubt benefit complaints, because we want to have as high customer satisfaction as possible, says Devold-Haagensen.

However, if no documentation can be submitted as to who carried out the original electrical work, the complaint is flatly rejected. The same applies when the installation instructions are obviously not followed.

- Most mistakes are often due to poorly done work, often by the homeowner himself or an unqualified "craftsman". Therefore, we get a lot of good feedback from electrical installers who are happy that we make clear demands that there should be professionally trained electricians employed in a DSB registered company that installs our products. It contributes to less unskilled work in the industry, he says.

Nexans has now made a new version of the market's best heating cable. Check out the new TQXP here.

 

The complaints provide better products

Ground faults or breaks in conductors are the most common faults that occur in the installation cables or heating cables. But there are also other types of complaints, such as damage to the packaging.

- The biggest challenge in finding the faults on a heating cable is that it is cast into the floor. If it is to be taken up and examined in its entirety, both it and the floor will be destroyed by it. Therefore, we let the complaint go through if we are not 100 percent sure it is due to a customer error, he says.

Because he is in the product department and right next to the production at Langhus, the insight from the complaints is worth its weight in gold to improve the products.

- I am in daily communication with the technical department here at Langhus and those who work to improve the products.

An example of this is how Nexans replaced the end termination of the cables with something that has proven to be much more robust and durable.

 

It goes wrong when physical laws are challenged

Devold-Haagensen meets customers at their best and worst. Some want factual and rational discussions, and present their complaints in a convincing way. Others are more emotionally driven.

- There will be some discussions related to compensation, and no one likes to lose money because they have made a mistake. In such cases, the conversations can be challenging, but I can familiarize myself with the installers' situation with a view to lost profits since I have also had a daily job in previous working relationships where this was a topic. Therefore, I have the ability to keep the composure in such cases.

- We live off the aftermarket and customer satisfaction, he points out.

There may also be complaints that cannot be approved.

- When we can prove that someone has broken the installation instructions and does not take into account, for example, Ohm's law, it is obvious that the complaint cannot be approved.

The examples of this are that a single-conductor heating cable with too low resistance has been used in, for example, snow melting systems or gutters, so that the cable melts from the heat development.

- When the heat development has not been taken into account, the damage can quickly reach the million mark. The classic mistake is that someone does not understand what a heating cable is, and therefore does not know the dangers that can arise, he says.

 

Gutter that destroyed three apartments

Devold-Haagensen is often out for an inspection to assess the injuries. One of the worst examples he has seen comes from an apartment building in Oslo, where the attic was converted into apartments. On one of these, attic terraces were built where water drainage takes place through a drain and drain pipe down to the ceiling in the apartment below and out into the gutter. In this, heating cables were laid to prevent the water from freezing in the winter, the same cable as in the gutter. Unfortunately, the installer had not taken into account that the pipe from the gutter and up into the drain was thermally insulated in addition to the pipe being in an insulated roof.

- The challenge was that no maximum wattage per meter was planned on the heating cable, and the result was that the drain pipe melted. Such drain pipes melt at 90 degrees, and a fault in the installation of heating cables can create higher temperatures than that, he says.

The result was water damage into the apartment below when the rainwater from the terrace ran out of the molten pipe. Because he who lived there was on a long-term vacation in Spain, the leak first went down to the floor below, and then also spread down to the next floor.

- This was an apartment building behind the castle where three apartments had to be completely renovated. The damages led to costs of many millions of kroner. We did not take this complaint into account, he says and reiterates the importance of using Nexans' employees for assessments and tips if you are unsure about the choice of cable. We're just a phone call or an email away. Feel free to send inquiries and drawings to varm@nexans.com and we will help with solutions, he says.

Other frequent faults are that cables are laid unevenly or that the length of the cable is incorrectly calculated.

- If what is left is cut off, the effect increases, ref Ohm's Law, and you get a hot conductor that creates a great fire hazard up in the wall if it is cut at the wrong end. I myself have seen how this causes pipes and wood to begin to char inside the wall. Heating cables must be calculated and installed by those who know their job, he says.

 

Follow the installation instructions to be safe

Devold-Haagensen emphasizes that heating cables are safe, and a good source of comfort in the home when the installation is done in accordance with regulations and the installation instructions are followed.

He is therefore pleased that the industry is working together against unskilled people who install heating cables.

- We must stand together in the industry to ensure that customers choose installers who deliver quality. Professionals need to do the job.

He points out that the new heating cable TQXP still has all the good laying properties that its predecessor was known for, but has become much easier to work with because new materials have made it easier to carry and handle.

- It is the good relationship we have with the market that means that we will maintain our position as market leader, also with our new product TQXP, he says.

Read more about TQXP which has now replaced TKXP