Trends in Conduit Choice: Six Reasons Why Data Center Designers Trust Fiberglass Conduit Elbows
Do you illuminate your home through your phone? Keep tabs on work with a project-based app? Just consider the number of devices owned by one person – phone, tablet, watches, home and personal computers – and all the personal and professional tasks handled by those devices. It’s easy to see that cloud-based computing is thriving and the need for data centers is exploding.
Data centers store mission-critical information and run processes necessary for businesses, government, and consumers. And with data center functionality comes massive amounts of cable and wiring that connect Internet service and power to these hubs of data storage and production. Electrical considerations like cable, wire, and conduit are fundamental components of data center projects.
There are many electrical conduit choices in the market – selecting the right product to protect the cables and investment is critical. Note these trends in data center design.
1. Project managers agree that lightweight conduit makes installation easy.
Heavy electrical conduit can be a drag on project schedules and budgets. Lighter weight conduit allows for better portability in the field and faster installation. Of all conduit types, some, like fiberglass conduit, weigh a fraction of other conduit types. Generally speaking, the lighter the conduit the faster and less expensive the installation. Installation labor hours can be found and compared in the NECA manual of labor units (MLU) or here in this helpful chart.
2. Burn-through damages conduit and expensive cable. Durable conduit that is not susceptible to burn-through protects cable and minimizes costly repairs.
Elbow burn-through compromises the conduit and cable system integrity and often results in increased labor and material costs. While PVC is used sometimes because it is lightweight, it is susceptible to burn-through. Steel protects from burn-through but is expensive and heavy. When burn-through occurs, repairs can be costly. Fiberglass elbows solve the burn-through issue as they are lightweight and don’t burn-through.
3. Cable replacement is easy in data centers with fault-resistant conduit.
Conduit with fault resistance creates long-term protection for data centers. Continuous power is necessary to sustain data center operations. Conduit that provides fault resistance ensures cable will not melt the fiberglass conduit or weld the cable to the conduit, allowing wire to be easily pulled through and replaced, without a costly repair to the conduit.
4. Elbows in many radii make specifying easy.
In data centers, electrical conduit is typically buried in trenches, and sometimes the conduit is placed in concrete banks that shield the wire and cable from elements like weather, fire, and even animals. Conduit elbows are integral to bringing underground wire and cable to surface and upper levels of data centers with stub-ups. As data center design maximizes server space, conduit elbows must support an increasing amount of heavy cable while minimizing burn-through for this dense environment. For problem-free specifying, look for a provider offering a variety of radii. Some conduit providers even offer expedited shipping for elbows so they are ready in 48 hours.
5. Low coefficient of friction in a cable-heavy environment promotes smooth pulls.
Electrical conduit with a low coefficient of friction enables a faster, smoother pull with less labor time, cost and risk. Of all the conduit types, fiberglass conduit elbows possess one of the lowest coefficients of friction of any conduit system, measuring .38 compared to .55 for PVC-coated steel and galvanized rigid steel and .90 for SCH 40 and SCH 80 PVC. Data center designers appreciate the longer conduit runs offered with fewer pull boxes.
6. Project owners continue to seek cost-effectiveness.
For conduit in data centers, project savings vary across the board with benefits from the outset in low initial product costs and installation for some conduit types. Compare conduit of all types here with estimating calculators like this one. Remember ROI is even better on conduit that is durable and lasts longer.
Protect Technology Investments
When planning the cabling infrastructure of a modern data center, technology companies recognize the importance of protecting cable and wire to secure data and processes. Project managers desiring less maintenance, repair, replacement cost, and worry are wise to choose a durable conduit product to preserve data center investment. Fiberglass conduit has been ahead on all these industry trends. Data center engineers, project owners, and contractors rely on fiberglass elbows’ ability to withstand cable burn-through and tolerate electrical faults. They appreciate the cost efficiency of the product and its easy installation. For data centers, fiberglass elbows offer a durable, cost-efficient product technology companies can trust to safeguard assets.
Get the numbers on how Champion Fiberglass elbows saved one data center client over $470K.
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