First of all, what is Tracer Wire?
Tracer wire, also known as Locating Wire. We can use it locate direct buried cable and fiber optics. It has various locator color codes with different usage.
Then, what is THHN Wire?
THHN wire a thermoplastic high-heat-resistant, nylon-coated wire. Use for commercial building wiring.
What is the difference between Tracer Wire and THHN Wire?
- Insulation
Tracer Wire: High density polyethylene (HDPE)(The service lifetime is more than 30 years)
THHN Wire: Nylon coating(The service lifetime is only around 5 years)
- Cost
THHN wire is cheaper than tracer wire.
But which we need to focus on is the quality.
THHN wire may save some cost at the beginning of your project. Due to the short service lifetime, you have to replace it twice even more. And spend more money in constant repair, maintenance, and replacement. To sum up, the cost will more expensive than tracer wire.
Therefore, why do not we choose tracer wire directly?
It will help us aviod many problems.
- Environment
Tracer Wire: It has strong flexibility under adverse conditions such as excessive heat or cold, heavy rain, etc.
THNN Wire: There is no insulating jacket, just nylon. It will be very susceptible to water and moisture, causing additional failures in the wiring under adverse conditions.
What Is Tracer Wire?
Tracer Wire is specially designed for finding and locating underground non-metallic pipelines.
TRACER WIRE COLOR CODE:
Yellow Tracer Wire : For Natural Gas Lines.
Orange Tracer Wire: For Fiber Optic, Signal and Communication Lines.
Blue Tracer Wire: For Potable Water Lines.
Green Tracer Wire: For Sewer and Drain Lines.
Purple Tracer Wire: For Reclaimed Water Lines
Red Tracer Wire: For Electric Power Lines.
White Tracer Wire: For proposed excavation.