Colour of external juntion boxes and conduit

Dec 28, 2017 16 Replies
A

Just been looking at junction boxes and conduit to move an external PIR floodlight. Why is it that most junction boxes are grey but conduit only comes in black or white?



I was thinking that black would be less obvious than white, but I havent seen any black junction boxes. Grey wouldnt be too bad but I havent seen any grey conduit.



Am I missing something?



I think having different colours would just look like I was using up stuff that I had laying around in the shed rather than specifically buying stuff for the job.



Alan


Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
C

Are they ? all the boxes I've ever bought have been either white or black.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
H

You can paint it all with gloss.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

You could always paint the j boxes to match the conduit.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
B

Interestingly, a friend of mine told be some time ago they use a lot of grey boxes in France, maybe these are dodgy imports from somewhere though for the life of me I cannot see what the heck the colour is matters to most people. Brian

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

These are good, particularly for outdoor lighting.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

Use a BESA box (circular conduit box) in the same range as the conduit.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
D

Yup. Clean new PVC paints very well with just oil based gloss - no primer. Will outlast wood done at the same time.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

That looks like it will do the job.

Thanks

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
S

I'm not sure many plastic lids would seal to a BESA box even with a rubber whatsit. They could be solvent welded on though.

Owain

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

So how many people do you know that nip out and gloss paint their UPVC windows as soon as the installers have gone home?

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
H

I painted all the downspouts and external pipework at our last house so it matched ...

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
D

I assume they buy their new windows in the colour they choose. ;-)

PVC pipes and trunking may be take what you get.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
P

I have a friend whose daughter wiped down her 14 day old brown uPVC windows with cellulose thinners because they were a bit dusty and several years later still look awful!

Peter

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

Must admit, I've only used metal BESA boxes outside. They do seem to seal OK, even though the lid screw holes and base earthing screw are not really sealed.

More recent ones have thin sheet steel lids which bend quite easily so harder to get pressure all around than with the older cast iron lids, but so far, even those are staying dry inside.

If you do use metal BESA boxes outside, make sure you use the galvanised ones, and not the black enamelled ones.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required