What is the best cable routing: in the ground or in the air

Each person who has conceived the construction of a private house, bathhouse, garage and other household buildings, even at the planning stage, is faced with the need to electrify the premises. The main question to be answered by the owner is how to properly extend the cable in the ground or through the air, which will be cheaper and more practical. The desire to save and get a high-quality result of their own work is inherent in everyone. Also, depending on the installation method, a certain cable brand will be required for outdoor installation. Such insignificant at first glance nuances carry some expenses, which ultimately add up to a considerable amount that can hit the family budget.

Content:

External wiring options
Outdoor cable brands
Conclusion

External wiring options

The cable is led to the buildings in two ways:

In the ground. This method eliminates many problems associated with external factors, such as ultraviolet rays of the sun, excessive overheating of the braid, rain, hail, wind. At what depth to pull it, the owner decides for himself if he does at his site in the country. But there are rules and standards that recommend deepening the highway to the depth of freezing. This is an effective way, but the most costly in terms of money and labor invested. It requires digging a trench, where the cable is subsequently laid in the HDPE pipe. If the cable is small, it’s even enough to stretch it in the corrugation or metal pipe used for plumbing.
By air. For external wiring using this method, a cable with a protective braid is required that can withstand adverse environmental influences. This is a quick and not expensive option for supplying electric energy to the house through the air. However, it should be noted that the further the connection object, the more it will be necessary to install supports. Such a cable is suspended on poles. The main danger to the wire is strong winds and ultraviolet rays. Solar exposure affects the quality of external insulation. It becomes fragile and loses plasticity.

The cable is put into the room either by open method or secretive. With open wiring, it can be an armored cable or hidden in a corrugation, PVC pipe, if the laying is carried out in a strobed stone wall. External open gasket involves the use of cable channels made of metal or plastic. The latter method violates the appearance of the facade, this is its only drawback. The advantage of surface cable laying is low cost, ease of installation and ease of maintenance.

If, due to unforeseen circumstances, the insulation melts or the wires break, then the cable is always in an accessible place. It is easy to replace and repair. However, this method is good for outdoor installation when the power cable is already connected to the house, for example, to the switchboard of an apartment building.

To install outdoor lighting on poles, including pulling the cable from the house to the barn, to the garage, to the bathhouse, it is often performed in the ground. This method eliminates accidental power outages. The cable will need to be additionally insulated both from moisture in the solid pipe and from mechanical damage caused by soil movement and repair work. Ground wiring has a long service life.

Underground wiring should be displayed on a plan to prevent accidental damage, rupture during household chores. Over the years, the circuit is gradually forgotten, so the exact place where the cable is laid in the ground must be noted with a column.

You can read more about how to lay the cable underground in this article - https://our.electricianexp.com/en/kak-pravilno-prolozhit-kabel-pod-zemlej-prakticheskie-sovety.html

If it is buried deep, the plow, cutters and a shovel will not reach it, but in case of redevelopment of the site, you will have to look for it in any case in order to transfer it to a new place.

Outdoor cable brands

Before proceeding with the electrification of the room, it is necessary to calculate what minimum cross-section will be required to supply voltage to the building's consumers, where and how to lay it (in the ground or through the air and at what depth). This aspect is very important, as it will help to avoid problems with breaks and malfunctions, as well as facilitate maintenance and operation. If water is supplied to the object, then you need to determine the distance to the water supply. Moisture often accumulates near it, which can short circuit if insulation is damaged.

Having drawn up a plan and making a designation on a topographic plane, at the next stage it is necessary to decide on the choice of the cable itself. There are several brands in total:

Self-supporting wire with insulation (SIP). It is designed for external wiring through the air. Aluminum conductors are covered by polymer insulation. It is resistant to ultraviolet rays, therefore, does not require additional protection.
VVGng-LS cable and its modifications are universal means for street installation of the power supply network. It has several cores made of bare copper or aluminum. They have their own shell, and are placed in a common plastic insulation. The letter "B" in the abbreviation indices means vinyl coating, and the letter "G" indicates the absence of external armor cores, that is, they are bare. The additional letter “A” at the beginning of the marking indicates that the cores are made of aluminum. Such wires are suitable for installation both in the air and in the ground. However, they will require additional protection in the form of corrugation resistant to ultraviolet, metal or HDPE, PVC pipe, or any other durable shell. To indicate the protective characteristics of polymer insulation, additional symbols are present in the marking. The lowercase letters "ng" indicate that the material is non-combustible, LT and LS with low toxicity and low smoke emissions, respectively. When laying through the air, the VVG cable is fixed to the cable, since it will not withstand mechanical loads.
VBBSHV - armored cable, it can be laid in the ground. under the sheath she has two steel bands wound along the cable. They protect against mechanical damage. But this option is less common, as it costs more, but you do not need to buy a pipe.

We also recommend that you study this issue in a separate article: https://our.electricianexp.com/en/kabel-dlya-prokladki-na-ulice.html

Conclusion

Laying an electric cable through the air is the most common and economical option for electrifying a room. This method is often used to supply voltage from the pole to the house. However, in the courtyard, many owners prefer to pull the cable to the outbuildings in the ground, since overhead lines require installation of supportsthat take part of the usable space of the site.

Finally, we recommend watching a useful video on the topic: