Quick answer. Type W cable is a North American portable power cable specified under ICEA S-75-381 for temporary power distribution, mining and heavy equipment. It is rated 600 V or 2000 V, built from about 8 AWG to 2000 kcmil, insulated with EPR (or XLPE on some designs) and jacketed in a heavy-duty CPE compound, and designed to survive dragging, crushing, oil and outdoor exposure — not daily coiling. It is not a UL 62 flexible cord: SOOW and SJOOW are a different product family that only overlaps Type W in the 8–2 AWG size band.
Last reviewed: November 2026.
Type W is a designation, not a letter code
Buyers who arrive from the SOOW world expect each letter to decode. It does not work that way here. Type W is a product designation inside the ICEA portable-cable family, sitting alongside Type G and G-GC (mining variants with ground and ground-check conductors). There is no "W = water" or "W = weather" reading to rely on — the specification, not the letter, defines the cable.
That matters commercially: a supplier can print "Type W" on a jacket, but what you are entitled to is the construction and test regime in the standard. Ask for the standard reference on the datasheet, not just the letter.
Construction: what the money buys
| Element | Typical Type W build | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Conductor | Rope-lay stranded copper, Class G/M stranding | Flex life under repeated handling and vibration |
| Insulation | EPR (ethylene propylene rubber); some designs XLPE | Heat and moisture tolerance at 90 °C conductor |
| Jacket | Heavy-duty CPE (chlorinated polyethylene) | Oil, abrasion, ozone and sunlight resistance |
| Voltage | 600 V or 2000 V | 2000 V versions are for higher-voltage temporary distribution |
| Temperature | Typically 90 °C conductor, cold bend to about −40 °C | Site conditions from desert to winter |
| Conductors | Single conductor or multi-conductor, with or without ground | Matches the distribution topology |
| Options | Ground-check conductor, reinforced or double jacket | Mining and heavy-equipment duty |
The jacket is where the cost sits. A CPE jacket on rope-lay copper is what lets the cable be dragged across gravel and rolled over by equipment; substituting a thinner general-purpose jacket keeps the price down and removes exactly the property the product exists for.
Ratings and sizes at a glance
- Voltage classes: 600 V and 2000 V. Match the marking to the system, and treat 600 V product as unusable on a 2000 V feeder regardless of conductor size.
- Size range: roughly 8 AWG (8.37 mm²) up to 2000 kcmil (≈1013 mm²). Sizes above about 500 kcmil are not stocked everywhere — lead time, not price, is usually the constraint.
- Conductor count: single conductor for feeder runs and grounds; multi-conductor for portable distribution runs.
- Standards family: ICEA S-75-381 portable and power feeder cable specifications; mining versions are commonly MSHA-accepted.
For the mm² arithmetic on any size in the range — including the kcmil sizes that have no AWG equivalent — use the AWG to mm² conversion chart; 1000 kcmil is 506.7 mm², so 2000 kcmil is about 1013 mm².
Where Type W is the right cable
| Application | Why Type W fits |
|---|---|
| Construction site temporary distribution | Dragged, coiled over equipment, exposed to weather and oil |
| Mining: shovels, draglines, drills | Abrasion and crush resistance with ground-check options |
| Heavy equipment and plant power feeders | Large conductor sizes at 600/2000 V |
| Temporary event and stage power | High-current runs that get moved between sites |
| Generator and switchgear interconnects (temporary) | Flexible large-size conductors with tough jackets |
What it is not for: fixed building wiring in conduit, exposed photovoltaic source circuits, or anything requiring a UL 62 cord listing. Those are three different products with three different acceptance routes.
Type W vs SOOW vs H07RN-F: three families, one table
| Property | Type W | SOOW / SJOOW (UL 62 cord) | H07RN-F (IEC 60245) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product family | Portable power cable (ICEA) | Flexible cord | Rubber flexible cable |
| Voltage | 600 V / 2000 V | 600 V / 300 V | 450/750 V |
| Size range | ~8 AWG – 2000 kcmil | 18 AWG – 2 AWG | 1–240 mm² |
| Duty | Temporary distribution, mining | Portable tools and equipment | Portable equipment, pumps, site power (EU) |
| Flexibility | Moderate, built for abuse | High, built for coiling | High |
| Acceptance | North American projects specifying ICEA | North American UL 62 | EU/CE markets, IEC-based projects |
The three are frequently quoted against each other and are not interchangeable: each answers a different standard, and a market that requires one will not automatically accept another. If a project spans markets, specify the destination's requirement first, then the construction. The same logic applies to fixed building wire, where BV/BVR and IEC 60227 / UL 83 line up only after the market is fixed — see the BV/BVR vs IEC 60227 comparison.
Ampacity: do not borrow building-wire tables
Type W ampacity is tabulated for portable cable — 90 °C conductors, usually in free air, often in single-layer runs — so the numbers sit above NEC building-wire values for the same cross-section. Two practical rules:
- Use the manufacturer's table for the exact construction (conductor count, jacket, installation method). A number copied from a building-wire column is not a conservative estimate; it is a different calculation.
- Derate for grouping and ambient. Cables bundled on a reel, stacked in a trench or run in high ambient lose ampacity quickly, and temporary installations are where this is most often ignored.
Mining variants: Type G and G-GC
Mining duty adds conductors that carry no power:
- Type G — includes a grounding conductor sized for the circuit.
- G-GC — adds a ground-check conductor, used with monitoring to confirm the grounding path is intact before the circuit is energised.
If the end user is a mine, the ground-check requirement usually comes from their electrical safety programme, not from the cable buyer's preference. Confirm it at RFQ stage — retrofitting a ground-check conductor onto a finished run is not possible.
Five buying checks
- Voltage marking vs system voltage. 600 V and 2000 V versions exist within the same designation.
- Jacket compound. CPE heavy-duty jacket is the reason the cable survives site conditions; ask what the jacket actually is, not whether it is "oil resistant".
- Stranding class. Rope-lay stranding is a flex-life property; a coarser strand at the same cross-section is a different product.
- Copper, not copper-clad. Large-size cable is where CCA substitution is most profitable for the seller — the conductor check in the bare copper vs tinned vs CCA guide applies here too.
- Ground-check need. Decide before ordering, not after the first shutdown.
FAQ
Q1: What is Type W cable? A: A North American portable power cable to ICEA S-75-381, rated 600 V or 2000 V, from about 8 AWG to 2000 kcmil, with EPR insulation and a heavy-duty CPE jacket. It is used for temporary power distribution, mining and heavy equipment — duty that involves dragging and crushing rather than coiling.
Q2: Is Type W the same as SOOW? A: No. SOOW is a UL 62 flexible cord from 18 AWG to 2 AWG at 600 V, for portable tools and equipment. Type W is a portable power cable at much larger sizes and up to 2000 V, specified to ICEA rather than UL 62. They overlap only in the 8–2 AWG band, and neither substitutes for the other.
Q3: What does the "W" in Type W stand for? A: Nothing decodable. Unlike SOOW's letter string, Type W is a product designation in the ICEA portable-cable family (alongside Type G and G-GC), not a letter-by-letter specification. The construction is defined by the standard, so ask for the standard reference on the datasheet.
Q4: What sizes and voltages does Type W come in? A: About 8 AWG (8.37 mm²) through 2000 kcmil (≈1013 mm²), in 600 V and 2000 V classes. Single-conductor and multi-conductor constructions are both available, with or without a grounding conductor.
Q5: Can Type W be used for solar or fixed wiring? A: No. Exposed PV source circuits require listed PV wire (UL 4703), and fixed building wiring has its own wiring-method requirements — a portable power cable is not a substitute for either. Type W is for temporary and portable distribution, where the cable is moved.
Sourcing note
🔴 Disclaimer: Type W constructions, size ranges and ampacity tables vary between manufacturers and standards revisions, and mining acceptance depends on the local authority and the site's electrical safety programme. Confirm the current ICEA reference, the datasheet and the destination market's acceptance rules before purchase. This article is buying guidance, not a certification determination.
