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Electricity Underground Ducting Colour

AncientMariner
What is the colour for electricity underground ducting for 400/230 volt supply cable?


Is it Black or Red?  If Red, when did it change from Black?

Thanks

Clive

  • 0
    AFAIK, LV is black, HV is red. Hasn't changed as far as I've heard....

        - Andy.
  • 0
    That's what I thought.  Certainly when we had our cut-out and meter moved to a built in meter box, besides the box, I was supplied with a hockey stick and a length of black ducting, this in 2002.  Some new houses up the road had red ducting installed for their 230 volt supply, this 2012, seemed strange since I have previously seen red ducting used for HV.

    A friend of mine has told me this evening that Scottish Power require red ducting even for replacing a single phase cable with a 3-phase cable when he was hoping to use the same black duct which is under about 7 inches of reinforced concrete....

    Clive


  • 0
    When I first approached SSE for a new (three-phase) supply, I was told that if the duct wasn't black, they wouldn't use it. As simple as that!
  • 0
    This site has the current guidance for street works and similar - recommended practice, Volume 1 is what you need, and LV can be black or red (duct or cable) unless it's power for comms or traffic control in which case violet or orange respectively ... http://streetworks.org.uk/resources/publications/



    And as for how long it's been like that ... I have Issue 1 (2007) of the same publication somewhere and it's black or red in there also.


    And yes, the choice can be regional, but not necessarily "devolved nations".
  • 0
    I have been updated that SP's Engineer came out, was not too happy about it being Black, but following a dig to expose the duct and finding a Electricity Warning tape had been laid above, was happy to accept Black rather than Red.  It is in the old MANWEB area of what is now Scottish Power.

    Afterwards as a "what if" it went through my mind, what they would do if connecting a new property to an existing main in the street which utilised Black ducting without any warning tape?  Would they remove the Black ducting and replace with Red from the new Tee junction in both directions.......?  All the recent junctions I have seen have been Black, the nearest to Red being the glazed clay pots covering a nicely wiped soldered joint in a casing filled with black bitumen type compound…..

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