In contemporary times, plastic ducting is widely used for the protection of underground cables and pipes. It has widespread usage in domestic households, gardens, and commercial installations, which includes playing fields, and under roads. Clay ducts and plastics pipers are commonly used in construction sites and commercial projects. If ducting is laid correctly, it can provide several advantages to an underground installation. Ducting is useful for protecting pipes and cables from animal activity and ground movement.
Moreover, future installations are put on alert from the presence of a cable or pipe. It saves time and money eliminating remedial works and costly damages. Cable replacement becomes easier, and there is no need for humongous excavation works.
There are strict guidelines that govern the depth at which water pipes are laid. The norms for other services vary greatly. In fact, few rules have been enacted to govern other services. Generally, 300 mm is the depth that is agreed upon by most services. Finding a duct just beneath the ground level is common. The region near to the exterior walls of a house is a commonplace. Do not be surprised if you find an analogous duct in the process of property maintenance or gardening. Hence, it makes all the sense to comprehend the kind of pipe or cable propagation lying inside the duct.
If you see a black duct knows that it is carrying electricity. The voltage passing through the cable laid inside a black duct should either low (less than 250 V) or medium (less than 500 V). Cables that are carrying more than 500 V are concealed in red ducts, and they do not venture near the surface.
If you come across a yellow duct, you can be sure it is carrying a gas pipe. Polyethylene is the constituent material of the pipe deployed for supplying gas to the incoming side of the gas meter. On the other hand, the blue duct is used for drinkable water propagation. Commonly MDPE, i.e. Medium Density Polyethylene water main pipes are used.
Telecommunication service providers use grey duct for carrying their cables. The latest rendition to the color spectrum is green that is used by cable television companies. During the initial days of cable television boom, many miles of green ducting were laid across town and cities.
An orange duct is explicitly meant for commercial use, and it carries cabling for traffic signals. It is used in railway applications and highways alike. Railway maintenance contractors use it too. Not to confuse with underground drainage pipe which golden brown in color. The preferred ducting used for traffic signals is bright orange color.
A purple color duct is common in motorway maintenance and carries the cable for lighting and overhead gantries. Ducting has a widespread usage and not limited to Builder merchant and Civil engineering companies. Most of the ducts come in a standard length of six meters or smaller. Male and female ends are provided for easy push fit jointing. Ducts of smaller size usually 50m in length are used for domestic purposes.