We buy electrical wire in Fulshear and Brookshire.

Data-centre construction and the phase that stalls

Data hall construction is dense and repetitive. Rows of racks, rows of busway, rows of panels, and a distribution scheme duplicated hall by hall. The cable is bought in volume for the whole build, and the first hall sets the pattern for the rest. When the pattern changes, the material bought for the earlier version is left over in quantities that are hard to use anywhere else.

The voltage classes are specific. A campus takes power at medium voltage and distributes at 480 volts, with 15 kV or 25 kV cable on the primary side and large copper or aluminium feeders on the secondary. Both appear as surplus, and both are reviewed on construction, size and length. A 15 kV feeder and a 600 volt feeder are different assets even when the conductor is the same size.

• 15 kV and 25 kV shielded feeder
• 500 to 1000 MCM copper and aluminium feeders
• 4/0 bare copper grounding conductor
• Busway and tap-off connections
• Control and monitoring cable

Grounding and the big conductor a data hall needs

A data hall is unusually demanding about grounding. Ground rings, bonding jumpers and equipment grounds are specified in large bare copper, often 4/0 or bigger, and the quantities are substantial because every rack row and every electrical room ties back to the same system. The cable is bought in long lengths and cut on site, so partial reels are normal at the end of a phase.

Bare copper is also the easiest cable to value, because there is no insulation to judge and the metal content sets a floor. A partial reel of 4/0 bare is still a partial reel of 4/0 bare, whether it was intended for a ground ring or a substation. That does not make it identical to new, but it makes the review short. Weighing it is often faster than measuring it.

Bare copper is valued on weight as readily as on length. Either measurement is useful, and both together are better.

Warehouse shells along the I-10 frontage

The warehouses going up around Fulshear and Brookshire are simpler than a data hall but larger in footprint. Long runs of feeder, high bay lighting, dock equipment and a fire pump or two. The cable purchase is smaller, and so is the leftover, but the leftover is more likely to sit because nobody is tracking it. A shell building has no staff and no store, so the material lives in a connex.

Contractors working this corridor often run several sites at once, and material moves between them. That is efficient until a job closes and nobody is sure which reel belongs to which project. Reels with no site marking are the ones that sit in the yard longest, and they are also the ones with the least paperwork. A paint marker on the flange solves most of it.

• THHN and XHHW feeders
• MC cable for office and dock areas
• Tray cable for conveyor and racking
• Pole and yard lighting cable

Moving a heavy reel off a gravel pad

A 96 inch reel of 750 MCM is not a forklift job for a pickup. It needs a machine with the capacity to lift it, a trailer that can carry it, and a route from where it sits to where the truck can park. On a construction site, that route is often the problem. Gravel spreads under a loaded forklift, and a grade that looks flat is not.

Gravel pads, unfinished roads and soft ground after rain all limit what can get to a reel. Say what the surface is, whether a loaded truck can turn around, and whether the reel is behind a fence or a gate that has to be opened. A photograph of the approach is worth more than a description. Send it before the cable is moved, not after.

If the reel has sunk into the ground, say how deep. A reel that has to be dug out is a different collection from one that rolls.