Hook Up Wire – Can I Put Heat Shrink Tubing on It?

 Hook Up Wire – Can I Put Heat Shrink Tubing on It?

Hook up wire is usually a smaller awg size used in appliances and electronic devices but there are also other types of hookup wire that may not be able to use the heat shrink tubing. Tubing can heat shrink butt connectors bed use on mostly anything as long as it can adhere to the product it’s going on.

PVC wire is the most common type of hook up wire and shrinkable tubing is used on it all the time. Some companies will buy bulk wire and cut and strip it into smaller pieces and make assemblies or harnesses out of them. These companies also tin dip, solder and terminate when needed. During that process heat shrink tubing is required to cover splices and terminals from touching other metals and shorting out. You cut a piece of the tubing, place it over the wire and use a heat gun to shrink it down until it adheres to the wire. It’s also common for a contract assembly house to label each assembly by printing the part number on the tubing and placing it in the middle of the assembly.

When using THHN electrical wire it might be more difficult to to get the tubing to completely adhere to it because of the nylon coating over the insulation. It makes the wire more slippery to push through conduit easier so the tubing will sometimes slip off even when shrunk all the way down. You probably won’t see too much electrical wire with tubing anyways because there are very few applications where it would be needed.

Most times it’s the PVC wire and PTFE Teflon wire that use heat shrink because it’s cut and altered much more. There is also a type of heat shrink tubing with adhesive on the inside that acts as glue when it heats up and shrinks down. The glue then sticks to both the wire and the tubing to make it nearly impossible to remove. Make sure, if you use it, that you want it there for good because you will have a very hard time getting it off.