Conduit for armoured cable

[JohnW2]

Because you could have some poor plumber looking for a drainage line in many years to come not realising what is actually in it.

It presumably would not be beyond the wit of man to adequately identify the pipe as being what it was? Quite apart from appropriate warning tape above it (per normal practice), it could actually be 'wrapped in' such tape if one wanted, couldn't it (and, per your subsequent comment, the same for blue MDPE water pipe)?

Kind Regards, John

 

[denso13]

It presumably would not be beyond the wit of man to adequately identify the pipe as being what it was?

You presume correctly but I still think it is bad practice. There is no excuse for it as the correct ducting is readily available albeit perhaps in longer lengths than required or may cost a bit extra for delivery.

Why faff about trying to conjure something up when it is just easier, even quicker, to use the correct thing.

Remembering of course it doesn't even need ducting, seems to be the OP's wife who suggested it in the first place.

If a job's worth doing and all that...

 

[JohnW2]

Because you could have some poor plumber looking for a drainage line in many years to come not realising what is actually in it....

You presume correctly but I still think it is bad practice. There is no excuse for it as the correct ducting is readily available albeit perhaps in longer lengths than required or may cost a bit extra for delivery. ... Why faff about trying to conjure something up when it is just easier, even quicker, to use the correct thing.

Is there really, in practice, much scope for confusion in the mind of people who 'know what they are doing'?

I presume that the "110mm drain pipe" suggested refers to plastic soil pipe - which will usually be black (which is the recognised colour for underground LV electrical cable ducting), or maybe white or grey, whereas underground drainage pipes should be terracotta.

If a "poor plumber looking for a drainage line" found, and cut into, an underground black 110mm plastic pipe, would it not be entirely his/her fault if they discovered a cable, rather than waste water, given that black is the recognised (and, I think, even maybe 'the required') colour for underground (including 110mm) LV electrical cable ducting?

Admittedly, if the underground pipe that was discovered was, or appeared to be, very old, then it might not correspond with current colour conventions, but in that case extreme caution would be required - although I'm not sure that black has ever been a recognised colour for underground plastic waste pipes, has it?

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

It presumably would not be beyond the wit of man to adequately identify the pipe as being what it was?

Indeed, they are adequately identified by colour, blue for water, yellow for gas, green for cable TV etc.

Provided some clown doesn't use the wrong one.

Would you also consider using the wrong core colours in a flexible cable as it is not beyond the wit of man to adequately identify them?

Let me see brown for earth, blue for live, and a nice stripy green/yellow for neutral.

 

[denso13]

I presume that the "110mm drain pipe" suggested refers to plastic soil pipe - which will usually be black

It is most unusually black. I have used loads, mainly for vent pipes through roofs to blend in with black roof tiles, nothing else really.

I am genuinely surprised you don't advocate using the correct thing for the job. Especially as the correct thing is just as readily available as the incorrect thing you would be happy to adapt.

 

[denso13]

If a "poor plumber looking for a drainage line" found, and cut into, an underground black 110mm plastic pipe, would it not be entirely his/her fault if they discovered a cable, rather than waste water,

There is no such thing as black underground soil pipe, but, if above ground was used incorrectly and I came across it below ground my first thought wouldn't be "well it's black soil pipe below ground, there must be a live cabe in it".

 

[JohnW2]

It is most unusually black. I have used loads, mainly for vent pipes through roofs to blend in with black roof tiles, nothing else really.

I guess that depends upon experience - around here, one would see very few soil pipes which were not black - but, in any event, if they're not black they are probably to be white or grey and, although occasionally brown, in my experience never terracotta. Anyway ...

I am genuinely surprised you don't advocate using the correct thing for the job. Especially as the correct thing is just as readily available as the incorrect thing you would be happy to adapt.

OK, let's assume that we are talking about 110mm black PVC soil pipe ...

... Do you not agree that, since black appears to be 'the' recognised colour for underground ducts carrying LV cables, a black plastic pipe (whatever it is 'called') is totally appropriate in the situation we are discussing? You talk about 'adapting the incorrect thing', but what is the material difference (in this context), particularly as regards external appearance, between a 110mm black plastic pipe sold as 'soil pipe' and a 110mm black plastic pipe sold as 'ducting', other than the connectors (if present) at the end (which would very probably not be visible to someone who had 'found' a section of the pipe underground). Am I missing some other material differences?

Do you not also agree that, given the existing conventions, a plumber who cut into an underground black plastic pipe, thinking it was a waste pipe, would, at the least, be incompetent?

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

There is no such thing as black underground soil pipe, but, if above ground was used incorrectly and I came across it below ground my first thought wouldn't be "well it's black soil pipe below ground, there must be a live cabe in it".

Maybe not, but would you not be expected to know enough about the colour conventions (perhaps even 'rules') to know that a black plastic 'tube' underground is precisely what LV cables are meant to be in?

Kind Regards, John

 

[denso13]

OK, let's assume that we are talking about 110mm black PVC soil pipe ...

I'll come back you on your other questions. but what about mine? Why not just cut all of the possible scenarios and buy some "proper" cable ducting?

 

[denso13]

to know that a black plastic 'tube' underground is precisely what LV cables are meant to be in?

It's not just "tube" though, is it. It is 110mm soil pipe in the context of this discussion and will normally be marked as such.

 

[JohnW2]

I'll come back you on your other questions. but what about mine? Why not just cut all of the possible scenarios and buy some "proper" cable ducting?

Since we are 'trading questions', as regards "proper cable ducting", what about my question ...

... what is the material difference (in this context), particularly as regards external appearance, between a 110mm black plastic pipe sold as 'soil pipe' and a 110mm black plastic pipe sold as 'ducting', other than the connectors (if present) at the end (which would very probably not be visible to someone who had 'found' a section of the pipe underground).

In other words, why does how 'proper' it is depend upon what it is called (I can't really believe that differences in mechanical properties etc. are of any relevance).

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

It's not just "tube" though, is it....

It very probably would effectively be, to someone who had dug a hole and found just a small section of it.

Kind Regards, John

 

[denso13]

Do you not also agree that, given the existing conventions, a plumber who cut into an underground black plastic pipe, thinking it was a waste pipe, would, at the least, be incompetent?

I hope you are playing Devil's Advocate here but I would think a plumber who considered an that an underground black drainage/soil/waste waste pipe actually contained a live cable would be incompetent.

What about a pipe chase in the corner of a property that had a vertical 110mm black pipe within it and you can't see the top or bottom of it. It is plainly a soil/waste pipe or a vent because it is 110mm black soil pipe and "that's what it does". The last thing going through my mind is that there might be a live cable in it.

 

[denso13]

Since we are 'trading questions', as regards "proper cable ducting", what about my question ...

Well, we're not trading because you aren't answering but (random googling), I can't find 110mm smooth cable ducting,

Cable duct

black soil pipe

 

[JohnW2]

Well, we're not trading because you aren't answering but (random googling), I can't find 110mm smooth cable ducting, ...

You don't seem to have Googled anything like hard enough (click here for the first of many hits} ...

Kind Regards, John