Electrical Lubricants
unit. For retrofit installations in particular, therefore, use of conduit can enable less invasive installations and greater flexibility for the location of cables, which is why we’re seeing opportunity develop for conduit and lube.
Why is lube necessary?
Regardless of the type of cable or conduit used, it is vulnerable to damage, so lube is an essential part of any electrician’s toolkit. And, just like every other tool or component used on an installation, the quality of the lube chosen can affect speed and ease of installation, safety and long term performance. For the electrical wholesaler, therefore, it pays to be able to advise customers on the best product for the application and to have the knowledge to explain the benefits of using a quality lube.
The main purpose of an electrical lube is to help the cable slide easily through the conduit to avoid friction and snagging. Often conduit is congested with multiple cables, it may be extended in length and include awkward bends and angles, all of which are potential causes of friction and difficulty in pulling the cable. Use of a suitable lubricant makes pulling the cable easier for the electrician with a lower risk of damage to the cable.
It’s not unusual for electricians to improvise by using non-specialist products, such as washing up liquid for example, to provide the slippiness of a lubricant. However, generic products like this are not designed to reduce friction and snagging and have not been tested for use with electrical cables, so these are important messages to get across to customers.
Electrical lube selling points The most fundamental property of any electrical lubricant is that it must be benign when in contact with the jacket material of the cable so that it not only protects the cable from friction or snagging but also prevents any loss of integrity for the jacket that protects the wire. As a wide range of jacket materials are used in cable manufacture, checking that the chosen lubricant is certified for use on the specific cable being installed is essential. All Ideal Industries lubricants have been independently tested to IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers) and UL standards and are clearly labelled to enable electricians to verify compatibility. They are also pH neutral, environmentally safe, non-toxic, non-flammable and noncorrosive; all properties that electricians should look for when selecting a lubricant to ensure the installation is safe and avoid any long term damage to the cable or the conduit from the lubricant.
The “clingability” of the lubricant is also essential, as this determines how well the lubricant performs throughout the pull. This is particularly important for longer and more complex runs. For example, Ideal Industries’ Yellow 77 Lube, which is most commonly used for industrial and commercial installations, has enhanced clingability to provide improved performance in tougher environments.
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“The quality of the lube chosen can affect the speed and ease of installation, safety and long term performance.”
Ideal Yellow 77 also has the lowest co-efficient of friction of any lubricant in the IDEAL Industries lube range, which is another key indicator of performance. The lower the co-efficient of friction the more protected the cable will be all the way through the pull, so wholesalers should always recommend the lubricant with the lowest co-efficient of friction available for electricians installing cables in extended conduit networks.
Temperature stability is also important because performance of the lube could be affected if it is installed outside the recommended temperature range. For Ideal Yellow 77, which is often used for industrial and power sector installations, the temperature range is 0°C – 54°C, providing sufficient variability for most UK installations. For Ideal Industries Aqua-Gel lubes, a polymer-based lube alternative to wax for exterior installations, the temperature range is even greater at 0°C – 82°C.
The temperature range for Ideal Industries’ Clearglide lube, which is usually recommended for residential, office, data comms and retrofit installations, is 0°C – 82°C. For these environments, ease of application and clean-up are also important considerations to prevent damage to interior finishes. The Clearglide bottle is designed to allow the lubricant to be dispensed straight into the conduit to prevent spills and the product has been formulated with added perfume to prevent chemical odours in interior spaces.
Quality counts
As with all electrical consumables, when it comes to selecting a lubricant, quality counts, so wholesalers should never treat them as a commodity product, but an opportunity to upsell on the basis of performance and safety.
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