Wire Duct WILL Make Your Control Panel Cleaner. Color, Size, Fingers?

All control panels should have wire duct but not all wire duct is created equal. Do you know when to use thin and thick finger? What the color means? Does it come with covers? What length is it sold in?
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[@davidbrewer7937]

I have a recommendation for pack density which was touched on very briefly here: tightly packed wires risk crosstalk between wires, especially when inductive loads & long cable runs are in the system so as well as careful grouping by function, loose with expansion room is better. I try to make sure my ducts are never more than 2/3 packed if possible...

[@TimWilborne]

I agree, that is a good rule.

[@matthewparris2823]

Regarding the fill of wire duct, surprised to not hear mention of NFPA 79 section 13.5.2 Percentage Fills of Raceways. The combined cross-sectional area of all conductors and cables shall not exceed 50 percent of the interior cross-sectional area of the raceway. The provisions shall be based on the actual dimensions of the conductors or cables used.

[@TimWilborne]

We tried to go light on the code and more on the basic common sense approaches of panel building in this series but good tip.

[@matthewparris2823]

@@TimWilborne totally agree with that approach. Looking forward to watching more. Just was surprised that Phoenix Contact's recommended threshold of "full" was when the wires won't fit...

[@Hurrycane-j]

Are cable ducts raceways by the means of the NFPA 79 or is there a different mention in the 508A on how much they can be filled? I haven't read both fully, yet. I'm just stating to gather information as a german electrical engineer that has to design some machine for the US in the near future. Greetings from Germany, your videos already helped me a lot on common things.

[@ebonk]

Love your collaboration with Phoenix Contact. Lots of useful video

[@TimWilborne]

Glad to hear that!

[@darrelljourdan9926]

Yes. Never overfill the duct just like conduit. Give yourself some space. Makes repairs a lot easier when wires need to be replaced.

[@TimWilborne]

Yes it does

[@plcwizard6811]

I've lost count of the number of wire ducts that were packed to the max, opening them would cause the wires to pop out! So sad.

[@TimWilborne]

Yes it's a major issue

[@warrenscorner]

I always wondered why the manufacturers don’t have something that will keep the wire in the duct as you’re working on the panel. I use tubing or cable cut offs but they always seem to fall out. Since most panels have the disconnect on the right side I try to keep all of the power wires on that side and control wires on the left. How would a piece of wire duct fall into the food? Any type of food processing is gonna have everything that’s wash down compatible. You would not have an open duct mounted outside of the panel.

[@TimWilborne]

They do make them, they are called wire retaining clips.

[@warrenscorner]

@@TimWilborne what! All of those salespersons that come knocking on the door trying to sell us stuff and not one of them has tried to sell wire retaining clips! I wonder if they sell them on Amazon?😂

[@dwaynes5983]

Trust me I have 30+ panels to restore that look like that. HELP ME. Lolol

[@TimWilborne]

Haha, that was a rough one I found on Reddit!