Burying cables...

Nov 12, 2016 46 Replies

Hmm... the last ducting I was supplied for new cable work was black as was the *hockey stick* for the meter box. Things change:-) In '95 yellow Elephant trunk flex was OK for gas. I think it now has to be pierced.

The 11KV joint failure which involved digging up my field yesterday had

3 orange cables heading off to the neighbour's transformer but I don't know if they were just tails or ran all the way.

You might mention that for non-metallic services marker tape is available with a tracer wire for use with a CAT generator.

Owain

FWIW I think it should be made clear in the title what sort of cable is being laid. i.e domestic a/c mains electricity for some sort of extension.

Handy to know ;-)

Added a comment.

ok put a note in the intro.

should have said "I have put a note in the intro" ;-)

It's just that I've seen blue (water), yellow(gas) red and black pipes going in to a big site. I didn't know what the last 2 were, so assumed that electricity would be red. Brighter colours make more sense.

Is that not just for street lights?

It's black on every building site I have worked on.

Not quite what we're talking about here, but the professionals can get it seriously wrong

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Many holes and trenches were dug around large parts of Dundee, involving multiple road and lane closures. This lasted for several weeks, then they announced the cable was faulty. As it says, they'll have another crack at it next year, but meantime Scottish Water have dug much of the same road up, with great disruption, to lay new water pipes.

Isn't that for above ground?

Chris

Thanks, the only cable that I have buried in my garden happens to be a fibre optic one. Though not strictly necessary, it is inside blue plastic water pipe just for physical protection. Other coloured piping is harder to buy.

Surely it's blue MDPE for buried water and black for exposed water, not to do with how old it is.

Very possibly. But my buried water supply pipe from the stopcock was black 20mm MDPE, before I changed it to blue 25mm, and i think 20mm was not generally used for above ground.

Always assume underground trunking will fill with water, as it usually will over time (even if just from condensation over the years).

The national colour coding system for underground utilities are;

Red ? Electric power lines, conduit and cables.

Orange ? Telecommunication, alarm or signal lines.

Yellow ? Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or other flammable material.

Green ? Sewage and drain lines.

Blue ? Drinking water.

Purple ? Reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines.

Pink ? Temporary survey markings, unknown/unidentified facilities.

White ? Proposed excavation limits or route.

from

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full fat version

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e-8.pdf

It always fills with water :-( condensation or `breathing` with expansion c ontraction pulling mositure in.

Only way to stop it is the telecoms method of compressed gas in the ducts , possibly bit overkill for garage power extension.

Use a pair of ducts and an endless loop of rope going round both.

Black was used for water whether buried or not, up to about 1980

Andrew

Aren't those the colours for spray marking on roads/pavements?

Virgin always seem to use page green conduit.

That`s the problem with standards , everyone has their own...

If you look at the pdf, Scotland uses purple duct for street lighting whils t eveyone else uses orange.

Take your pick of Grey, white, green, Black, purple for comms but black could also be sewage or an oil line :-)

Odd then that something like SWA cable doesn't come in red as standard?

+1

BT blow dry air down the ducts to try and keep them dry, it doesn't work all the time.

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