An important part of modern construction is conduit fittings. From flexible conduits to rigid, we ave many types to choose from today. Among the metallic conduits, brass can make for an interesting choice. Durable and resistant to corrosion, brass conduit fittings are preferred both for their functionality and aesthetics. Let us find out more about conduits and brass conduits.
What are conduits?
Conduits are channels or carriers. In a construction it is used for both plumbing and electrical system. It is either used to carry water pipes, like aqueducts or cables and wires. Accordingly their construction and material can also vary. Most water conduits are made of concrete, cement or plastic. Electrical conduits can be both metal and non-metal.
Conduits are often present around a building, some even away from your eyes. These are fixed inside walls, outside a building and even in specially built vertical corridors of a building! The wires are pulled through these conduits. The size of the conduit will, of course, depend on the size of the wires inside. Most conduits will carry one wire, while some may carry multiple wires. Most conduits you will find around you are rigid, but some may be flexible.
Different types of conduits are:
There are mainly three types of conduits: metal, non-metal and flexible.
Non-metal
- Electrical nonmetallic tubing or ENT has thinwalls with corrugated tubing. It is also resistant to moistureand flames. It is flexible enoughto be worked by hand. It has a corrugated shape.
- Rigid nonmetallic conduit or RNC is has an unthreaded smooth suface.
- The most popular conduit because of their weight and cost is the PVC conduit. The plastic also has the benefit of high resistance to corrosion and moisture. It is manufactured in three type of thicknesses with a special extra thick-walled PVC conduit that can be used for burial work.
- FRE conduits are even lighter and offer multiple benefits, such as lower installation costs, resistance to flame and temperature.
Metal
- Rigid metal conduit or RMC has a thickwall. It has threaded tubing, made of steel or aluminium.
- Galvanized rigid conduit or GRC has agalvanised steel tubing. Its threaded tubing means also thick-walls. It is usually found in industrial and commercial construction.[1]
- Electrical metallic tubing or EMT has thinwalls.Because of its lightweight and lower price, it is often used in place of GRC. Clamp fittings are used to connect the conduits to each other. It is usually made of coated steel oraluminium.
- Intermediate metal conduit or IMC has steel tubing which may or may not be threaded. It falls between EMT and RMC in weight.
Flexible
- Flexible metallic conduit or FMC is typically found in dry areas as a more acceptable alternative to EMT. It is very flexible with good flex.
- Liquidtight flexible metal conduit or LFMC is a flexible metallic conduit. It has a waterproof plastic coating.
- Liquidtight flexible nonmetallic conduit or LFNC is an umbrella term, used to include different flame-resistant nonmetallic tubing.
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Why do we need conduits?
Aesthetics:
One of the obvious reasons is the aesthetics. No one likes to see base wires running across surfaces. Conduits with brass conduit fittings have a much better aesthetics than bare wires.
Protection:
Modern buildings require a lot of wires and cables to run across its surface. Without any kind of conduit, these will be exposed to the environment, especially conduits that are placed in the exterior of a building. The wires here will be exposed to sun, moisture and rain. This can be dangerous in case of electrical wires. Even the most basic conduits are effective in providing some protection to the wires inside.
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Segregation:
Modern buildings today have multitude of wires that run together. This can create multiple problems, from entanglement to the friction that comes from wires moving against each other. This can cause fire hazards. A conduit separate different wires and creates a safer mechanism of putting up wires.
Brass conduit fittings
How do we attach conduits, which are essentially just tubes, to each other or to different structure? This is where conduit fittings come in. These fittings provide a firm, durable opening to the tubes, communicating them to each other and to different structures. Elbow fittings also ensure that conduits can be arranged in various formations.