1099 Thompson Road, SE · Hartselle, AL 35640 Page 1 of 4 A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company July 27, 2020 ACTION REQUESTED Re: 250' Coils and 1000' Reels of 10-2 NM-B with 12 AWG White Conductor
1099 Thompson Road, SE · Hartselle, AL 35640 July 27, 2020 ACTION REQUESTED Re: 250' Coils and 1000' Reels of 10-2 NM-B with 12 AWG White Conductor To Our Valued Customers and Partners: Cerrowire was recently alerted to a product defect involving 250' coils and 1000' reels of our 10-2 NM-B product. It has come to our attention that a small amount of this material was incorrectly manufactured to include a 12 AWG (instead of 10 AWG) white conductor. The other conductors in the affected products are sized correctly. IMPORTANT NOTE: Please read this entire document before taking action regarding this issue! Cerrowire has identified potentially affected material with a very conservative approach. Simply because material falls within the potentially affected dates/times does not mean your material is definitely affected. Reading and following this document in its entirety will help ensure the safest outcome in the most efficient manner. We appreciate your time and understanding as we work with you to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. CALL TO ACTION Any material confirmed to be affected by this issue should be immediately quarantined and returned to Cerrowire for credit. Any installed material confirmed to be affected by this issue should not be energized, but should be immediately taken out of service, removed, and replaced. Contact your Cerrowire sales representative to coordinate product returns and credits as needed if defective material is positively identified. How to Identify Potentially Defective Material The only products affected were 250' coils and 1000' reels of 10-2 NM-B. All affected product was manufactured at a single location with dates and times as follows: · Affected 250' coils were manufactured on 2/18/2020 from the time of 21:00 (9:00 PM) to the time of 23:59 (11:59 PM). · Affected 1000' reels were manufactured on 2/19/2020 from the time of 00:00 (12:00 AM or midnight) to the time of 10:30 (10:30 AM). Products that may contain the defect can therefore be quickly identified by distinctive markings in the surface print on the cable. See Figure 1 below for an example of the surface print detailing where and how to identify the distinctive markings. Products that meet ALL following criteria should be considered potentially defective: 1. Must be 250' coils or 1000' reels of 10-2 NM-B. 2. For 250' coils only: Must include a date code of "2/18/20" and a timestamp between "21:00" and "23:59" in the surface print of the cable (See Figure 1). 3. For 1000' reels only: Must include a date code of "2/19/20" and a timestamp between "00:00" and "10:30" in the surface print of the cable (See Figure 1). 4. Must include manufacturer identification text that reads "CIRTEX-A" in the surface print of the cable (see Figure 1). Page 1 of 4 A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company 1099 Thompson Road, SE · Hartselle, AL 35640 Figure 1 Products that do not meet ALL above criteria are NOT affected and are safe for use. To summarize: · Sizes and lengths other than 250' coils or 1000' reels of 10-2 NM-B are NOT affected. · 250' coils of 10-2 NM-B with date/time outside the range of "2/18/20 21:00" to "2/18/20 23:59" are NOT affected. · 1000' reels of 10-2 NM-B with date/time outside the range of "2/19/20 00:00" to "2/19/20 10:30" are NOT affected. · Products that do not include "CIRTEX-A" as the manufacturer identification text are NOT affected. NOTE: The distinctive "-A" in the "CIRTEX-A" text indicates the manufacturing location. Other manufacturing locations were not affected by this issue. · The ONLY products affected are: 250' coils of 10-2 NM-B with date/time codes from "2/18/20 21:00" to "2/18/20 23:59" AND the "CIRTEX-A" manufacturer identification text in the surface print of the cable. 1000' reels of 10-2 NM-B with date/time codes from "2/19/20 00:00" to "2/19/20 10:30" AND the "CIRTEX-A" manufacturer identification text in the surface print of the cable. Instructions for Material Inspection Please follow the steps below to identify any potentially defective material affected by this issue: 1. Ensure the product is Cerrowire 10-2 NM-B, 250' (coils) or 1000' (reels) in length. 2. Inspect the surface print on the cable itself. Do not rely on any markings on the packaging to identify any potentially defective material. 3. Locate and take note of the date/time code in the surface print (see Figure 1). 4. Locate and take note of the manufacturer identification text in the surface print (see Figure 1). 5. 250' coils with a date/time code from "2/18/20 21:00" to "2/18/20 23:59" AND the manufacturer identification text "CIRTEX-A" (must include "-A") are potentially defective and must be quarantined for return. Page 2 of 4 A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company 1099 Thompson Road, SE · Hartselle, AL 35640 6. 1000' reels with a date/time code from "2/19/20 00:00" to "2/19/20 10:30" AND the manufacturer identification text "CIRTEX-A" (must include "-A") are potentially defective and must be quarantined for return. 7. For full or partial pallets/skids of material originally shipped from the Cerrowire factory, it is not necessary to inspect every coil/reel on the pallet. For original factory pallets/skids of material, follow these steps to complete inspection: a. Inspect at least one coil/reel from the top layer on the pallet and one coil/reel on the bottom layer of the pallet. b. If any coil/reel inspected meets all above criteria, the entire pallet must be quarantined for return. c. If no inspected coils/reels meet all above criteria, the pallet is not affected and can be safely released for use. d. Please note these steps are only valid for original pallets/skids from the factory and are not applicable for pallets that may have been used to consolidate coils/reels from multiple sources. For mixed/consolidated pallets, coils/reels must be individually inspected. Special Instructions for Inspecting Installed Material IMPORTANT NOTE: The following steps MUST be performed by a qualified electrician! 1. De-energize the cable and ensure it can be accessed safely. 2. Follow steps 1 through 6 above to determine if the material is potentially defective. Please note the following: a. If the cable surface print has a date/time code in the range "2/18/20 21:00" to "2/19/20 10:30" AND the manufacturer identification text "CIRTEX-A" (must include "-A"), it is potentially defective. Proceed to Step 3 below. b. If the product does NOT include BOTH markings as noted in (a), it is NOT affected, inspection is complete, and the material is safe to energize and leave in service. 3. To determine if the cable is actually defective, you must be able to access each end of the cable run. If the cable is already terminated, remove from termination to allow access to the exposed cable ends. 4. If not already stripped, strip at least 1" of insulation from the white conductor to expose the bare copper. 5. Verify the diameter of the bare copper (white conductor only) by one of the following methods. Method (a) is the preferred method and highly recommended: a. Using a caliper (see Figure 2 for an example) or outside micrometer with flat anvils (see Figure 3 for an example), measure the diameter of the bare copper on the white conductor. 10 AWG wire will measure approximately 0.100", while 12 AWG wire will measure approximately 0.080" (+/- variation of a few thousandths is normal). Figure 2 Page 3 of 4 A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company Figure 3 1099 Thompson Road, SE · Hartselle, AL 35640 b. Obtain a separate, known 12 AWG bare copper solid wire. Compare the size of the known 12 AWG wire directly (side by side) with the white conductor of the installed cable. See Figure 4 and Figure 5 below showing 10 AWG and 12 AWG wire side by side. Figure 4 Figure 5 i. If the bare copper diameter of the white conductor is visibly larger than the known 12 AWG wire, then it is almost certainly a 10 AWG conductor. The difference should be apparent to the naked eye. To confirm, also compare the white conductor to the black conductor, which should be the same diameter. ii. If the bare copper diameter of the white conductor appears to be the same as the known 12 AWG wire, then the white conductor is 12 AWG. To confirm, also compare the white conductor to the black conductor, which is 10 AWG and should be visibly larger. This should be apparent to the naked eye. 6. If the white conductor is confirmed to be 10 AWG, the inspection is complete, and the material is safe to energize and leave in service. 7. If the white conductor is confirmed to be 12 AWG, or if the white conductor size cannot be verified, the cable MUST be considered defective, removed from service, and replaced. 8. For any reimbursement consideration, ALL removed cable MUST be returned to Cerrowire. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience and problems this issue has caused. We are working diligently to fully investigate the root cause of the problem and to implement permanent corrective actions to prevent recurrence. We appreciate your business and your patience as we resolve this issue. Please contact your Cerrowire sales representative if you have any questions or need additional information. Best regards, Kevin L. Dalrymple Director of Quality Page 4 of 4 A Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway CompanyMicrosoft Word for Microsoft 365