Why the Differences in Conduit and Surface Electric Wiring in Buildings matters a lot
The electrification of building is very vital such that safety measures have to be put in place to avoid problems that can cause fire hazards as about 90% of fire outbreaks in buildings have been attributed to wrong electrification and wiring in the building.
Hence it is a necessity to have a very high consideration when planning to electrify a building.
There may be more classified methods of electrification in buildings but the popular methods among them are:
THE CONDUIT OR INTERNAL ELECTRIFICATION
THE SURFACE OR EXTERNAL ELECTRIFICATION
Differences in Conduit and Surface Electric Wiring in Buildings
Now let us discuss each of these types of wiring in details.
1) THE CONDUIT WIRING (INTERNAL ELECTRIFICATION):
This is the process of electrification in which the wires are buried either beneath the soil, concrete, blocks, woods or even the ceramics & asbestos.
The purpose behind this method is to hide the wires from the view and contact of the people around thereby ensuring the safety of individuals from the contacts of live wires which has decreased the rate of electric shocks in houses.
Almost all the modern building uses this method of electrification and wiring the reason is just because of its advantage over the surface wiring.
The conduit wiring is one of the popular methods of electrification because of its neat appearance after the whole wiring has been done.
It also helps the wire to be properly arranged in order to trace faults easily and avoid sparks due to partial contacts of the wires.
THE PROCESS USE IN CONDUIT WIRING OF BUILDINGS:
The process involves the use of special PVC pipes made with a thermoset (a type of plastic that does not melt easily but rather burns without flame when exposed to very high heat) this plastic pipes have fixing joint heads located at its ends hence making it easy to fix together.
The wires are inserted inside the pipes according to the engineer’s specification some of the pipes can have two or more wires in it while some can carry only one wire everything depends on the owner economic plan and the engineer’s specification.
The pipes will be fixed together in such a way that its length covers the length the wires will pass through.
Hence having the wires inside the pipes only the pipes will be visible which is to be covered or buried or inserted in any wall or place the main wires supposed to pass in the surface wiring.
The major place of application of this type of wiring is in the domestic buildings and some less busy commercial building.
THE ADVANTAGES OF CONDUIT WIRING:
It make the house neat and the wires invisible.
It reduces rate of electric shock.
The wires are properly arranged which reduces partial contacts.
It provides safety for occupants of a building by reducing contacts with live wires.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF CONDUIT WIRING
It is more costly than surface wiring.
It consumes more wire than surface wiring.
When there is electric bridge of any of the wires, it will be difficult to ratify the fault.
In the case of wrong wiring it will be difficult and will cost more to re-wire again.
Conduit wiring can make the ground or walls to start shocking if water or liquid enter any of those places thereby creating electric contact from the live wires.
2) THE SURFACE WIRING (EXTERNAL ELECTRIFICATION):
This method is vast in the sense that many styles are used depending on what the engineer wants to achieve.
Some of the surface wiring uses PVC pipes but in a square shape rather than the round type use in the conduit wiring method while some except the Clips use in the pinning of the wires to the wall in places the wire is to pass through.
Hence, it is mostly used in wooden or concrete walls where it can easily be clipped to the wall.
Surface wiring is more economical when compared to conduit wiring but has its limitations, advantages and disadvantages.
Most busy and commercial places use this method because of its easy method of ratifying electric faults.
THE PROCESS USE IN SURFACE WIRING (EXTERNAL ELECTRIFICATION):
The process involves the use of clips to fix the wires directly on the surface of the walls, while the style that uses square pipes are done by fixing the pipes to the walls and inserting the wires into it then using the pipes’ cover to cover the wires.
THE ADVANTAGES OF SURFACE WIRING:
It makes the ratification of electric faults easier.
It is cheaper than conduit method.
It consumes less wire.
Wiring and re-wiring can be done with ease.
The visibility of the wires make it easy to know when there are electric sparks.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF SURFACE WIRING:
It is less safe to people within the area as contact to live wire is possible.
It can cause sparks more frequent than the conduct method.
It makes the wiring looks rough as the wires are scattered or visible in almost everywhere.
It has higher percentage of causing fire breakout due to sparks when compared to conduit method.
CONCLUSION
The above details clearly pointed out differences in Conduit and Surface Electric Wiring in Buildings. However, if you could not get the point you are looking for, drop a feedback to us through the comment section.
