Part index · four datasheets out of 175
Cold shrink: stored elastic energy, and the 1.1 kV ceiling
1.1 kV, 8 to 94 mm across seven diameters, −40 °C to 105 °C, and no heat at any point in the job.
The ceiling first, because it settles most enquiries
1.1 kV is where this range stops. Seven diameters cover an 8 to 94 mm application range on copper and aluminium conductor to 1000 sq mm. Ask for cold shrink at 11 kV and there is nothing here to quote against.
Nothing in the range joints or splices anything. Cold shrink appears on four of the manufacturer's 175 published datasheets: tube in EPDM, tube in silicone, a close-ended cap, and a two- or four-core crutch sleeve. Four sealing parts, no joint body, no termination, at any voltage. A specification naming one is naming a different supplier.
This index carries the tube. Codes and diameters are at cold shrink tubing and the size chart. The GCCE cap closes a cut end rather than covering a connection, and anodecap.com holds that subject; cablebreakoutboots.com holds the GCEB crutch sleeve. Both are sister references from this site's publisher, on the same manufacturer's range.
One chart, two prefixes
The EPDM sheet of March 2025 reads GCTE. The silicone sheet of August 2025 reads GCTS — and the manufacturer's own silicone web page reproduces that same chart back under GCTE. Dimensions agree row for row, so the disagreement is in the prefix alone. Put the compound in words beside the code and the ambiguity stops at the order.
The sequence below is a reading, not an installation instruction
Each cold shrink sheet describes recovery in one sentence and prints no numbered procedure. What follows reads that sentence and the sheets' own drawings. Where a leaflet comes in the packet, the leaflet governs.
Where the energy is stored, and when it is let out
Expansion happened once, in a factory
GCTE 104/42 is supplied at 104 mm minimum and free-recovers to 42 mm maximum. That pair is not a shrink ratio: no cold shrink sheet prints one anywhere, which catches everyone arriving from shrink ratio explained.
A PP coil holds it open, and nothing else does
All four drawings label the removable core a PP coil. That coil is the only thing resisting the rubber, so storage, transport and handling all happen with the elastomer already under load.
Position it fully before you pull
Slide the sleeve over the inline connection or the terminal lug and settle it. Lf, the length after free recovery, is 500 mm minimum on all seven codes. The covered length is therefore fixed, and the only decision left is where it starts.
Withdraw the core
Recovery is immediate. No flame, no gun, no cylinder, no power at the position. No sheet describes re-expanding a recovered part, so treat the pull as one-way and order the spare with the part.
Contact pressure is the whole seal
Both tube sheets state that no mastic and no tape are required, which leaves stretched rubber bearing on the substrate as the entire water barrier. The sheets put one claim behind that: the water seal requirement of ANSI C119.1.
The window is −40 °C to 105 °C, and only the top of it bites
All four sheets print the same operating range, −40 °C to 105 °C. The bottom end is not the discriminator: the medium and heavy wall polyolefin sheet also starts at −40 °C, and backs it with a low-temperature flexibility test, four hours at −40 °C, no cracking. The top end is where the two technologies part.
105 °C sits 5 °C under the +110 °C continuous limit printed for GMW and GHW, and 20 °C under the +125 °C on the vented thin wall sheet. It also sits 20 °C under 125 °C, the shrink temperature the medium and heavy wall sheet gives — the number a gun would be set by at an adjacent position on the same cable.
Against the cable rather than the tube, 105 °C leaves 15 °C over the 90 °C conductor temperature that XLPE cable to IEC 60502-1 is rated for in normal operation. That headroom is all the sheets support, because none of the four prints a thermal ageing result. The polyolefin sheet prints two: 150 °C for 168 hours, and heat shock at 250 °C for 30 minutes. Ask for an ageing figure before a cold shrink sleeve goes anywhere warm and permanent.
The published envelope, against the heat shrink grades it would displace
Ratings only. What the two mechanisms physically do — crosslinks against stored strain — is set out at heat shrink or cold shrink.
| Axis | Cold shrink — GCTE and GCTS | Heat shrink polyolefin |
|---|---|---|
| Voltage the chart covers | 1.1 kV, conductor to 1000 sq mm | GMW to 3.3 kV, GHW to 36 kV, both conforming to IEC 60684-3-247 |
| Continuous temperature | −40 °C to 105 °C, identically on all four sheets | −40 °C to +110 °C on GMW and GHW; −40 °C to +125 °C on the vented thin wall |
| Dielectric strength | 14.3 kV/mm in EPDM; 18.0 kV/mm minimum in silicone | 12 kV/mm minimum at a 2 mm wall on GMW and GHW; over 15 kV/mm on the vented thin wall |
| Recovered wall | Not on either tube chart; the GCCE cap chart prints Tf 3.3 to 3.4 mm | 1.5 to 3.5 mm across GMW, 2.4 to 4.5 mm across GHW |
| What you size against | The application range column; free recovery is published but is not the selection band | Recovered ID and recovered wall |
| Thermal ageing | No result on any of the four sheets | 150 °C for 168 hours, plus heat shock at 250 °C for 30 minutes |
The four published parts, and where each one is indexed
Cold shrink tube, EPDM
Seven sizes, GCTE 20/7 to 104/42, black, 8 to 94 mm application range, 14.3 kV/mm, 500 mm minimum after recovery. Carries 750% elongation and the only moisture absorption figure in the range.
Cold shrink tube, silicone
The same seven diameters in grey, 40 ± 10 Shore A, 18.0 kV/mm minimum, 400% minimum elongation. A chemistry and hardness choice; nothing dimensional separates it from EPDM.
Cold shrink end cap
GCCE-01 to GCCE-05, 13 to 80 mm, wall after recovery 3.3 to 3.4 mm — the only recovered wall the range prints. Close-ended, stated compatible with XLPE, PVC, PILC and rubber-sheathed jackets, and the one sheet of the four carrying no dielectric figure. Indexed at anodecap.com.
Cold shrink breakout
GCEB2-1 to GCEB4-2, two- and four-core crutch sleeves. Body bands run Ø17–Ø30 up to Ø32–Ø50, finger bands Ø10–Ø14 or Ø12–Ø17. Four codes, and no three-core among them. Its own reference is cablebreakoutboots.com, published alongside this site by the same publisher.
Above the ceiling, the answer is heat
GMW carries the insulating duty to 3.3 kV and GHW to 36 kV, both cross-linked polyolefin, both conforming to IEC 60684-3-247.
Where a tube stops being the right shape
An extruded sleeve is a cylinder. A crutch, a cut end and a right-angle lug are not, and geometry beats wall thickness in deciding that.
What the cold shrink range contains
| Part | Code range | Sizes | Application range | Compound as published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tube, EPDM | GCTE 20/7 – GCTE 104/42 | 7 | 8 – 94 | EPDM rubber, free of chloride and sulfur |
| Tube, silicone | GCTS 20/7 – GCTS 104/42 | 7 | 8 – 94 | Silicone, free of chloride and sulfur |
| End cap | GCCE-01 – GCCE-05 | 5 | 13 – 80 | EPDM rubber |
| Breakout | GCEB2-1 – GCEB4-2 | 4 | Ø17–Ø30 to Ø32–Ø50 body; Ø10–Ø14 or Ø12–Ø17 fingers | Silicone or rubber on the sheet, EPDM on both web pages |
| Joint, splice or termination | — | 0 | — | — |
Compiled from the four cold shrink datasheets — tube in EPDM, end cap and breakout at Issue 1 of March 2025, silicone tube at August 2025. All dimensions in mm, and the EPDM sheet is the reference for the tube rows. The end cap's feature list claims a 10 to 80 mm size range while its own selection chart starts at 13 mm; the chart figure is used here.
Shelf life is not published, and stored strain is why it matters here
Both tube sheets say the part seals tight and retains resiliency for years. Neither prints a storage period, a maximum time on the coil, a date-code convention, or any recovery figure measured after storage. Polyolefin stock waits at its supplied size; cold shrink stock waits stretched. Ask for a storage limit in writing before committing a part that will sit through a season.
Asked before the size is
Is there a cold shrink joint or splice in this catalogue?
What is the highest voltage?
EPDM or silicone?
Do I select on the recovered diameter?
Does it get me past a refused hot work permit?
Send the diameter and the voltage, in that order
Five lines settle it: outside diameter over the connection at its widest point, conductor size in sq mm, system voltage, whether a hot work permit will be granted there, and whether EPDM or silicone is specified. With those a GCTE or GCTS code can be named — or cold shrink ruled out plainly.