“Since 1986, there have been nearly 8,000 incidents (nearly 300 per year on average), resulting in more than 500 deaths, more than 2,300 injuries, and nearly $7 billion in damage” due to pipeline breaks. Many of these damages have been due to improper excavation techniques, metal failure, corrosion, and erroneous operations. Not all of these particular incidents could have been solved using underground marking products like tracer wire or detectable underground tapes, but these items could have significantly reduced these statistics.
There are many different types, sizes, and colors found within the tracer wire family, all of which have purposes ranging from detection of underground utilities and direct drilling applications to pet fencing and wireless lawn mowing capabilities. Chances are, the next time you take a walk around your neighborhood, you are highly likely to pass several varying classifications of tracer wire implementations.
What are the Benefits of Tracer Wire?
Since tracer wire comes in varying sizes, systems, and compositions, the advantages are quite considerable. However, utility companies most likely see the most significant benefit to this product simply because of the number of lines and pipes buried underground.
When paired with underground infrastructures such as gas, water, sewage, or electricity lines, tracer wire is laid along the length of the pipe and then buried along with it. Later, when the utility company or municipality needs to locate those lines, they simply pull out their locating devices and get an accurate read on the location and depth of the buried cable.
Not only are these systems easy to install and necessary for accurate underground pipe detection, but they are also:
- Corrosion, moisture, chemical, oil, impact, crush, and abrasion-resistant.
- Carry a much lower theft value than copper wiring systems.
- Comes in sizes ranging from 14 through 6 AWG.
- When grounded with a magnesium ground rod, corrosion is redirected to the ground rod, thus preserving the integrity of your tracer wire system.
- Depending on the type of tracer wire you use, the break strength FAR exceeds typical copper applications:
- HF-CCS (High Flex)- 43% higher in strength than copper tracer wire.
- HS-CCS (High Strength)- 227% the break load of copper tracer wire.
- HDD-CCS (Directional Drilling)- 700% the break load of copper.
- Considerably lower in cost and excellent price stability compared to copper counterpart.
As you can see, there are many reasons why you should choose tracer wire for your next project. Being one of the Nation’s foremost experts in tracer wire, Proline carries a vast assortment of locating and marking systems tailored to utilities worldwide. If you are interested in learning more about Prolines tracer wire products, or would like to find out what type of copper clad tracer wire is best for your next project, reach out to us today!