Useful Cable Management Tips to Make Remote and Hybrid Working as Comfortable and Safe as Possible.
Cable management is the perfect solution for a variety of domestic, commercial, and industrial safety and organisation needs. They can ensure a safe and smooth installation in a cost-effective way.
Since the pandemic and global lock down, a lot of people have found themselves working from home more and more often, even with the adoption of hybrid and remote work. And just as in an office, it is important to maintain a safe and productive workspace. Even when working from the comfort of your home, these needs remain essential. In fact, it could be argued that it is more important in order to ensure the safety of your home, loved ones, and belongings.
Benefits of Cable Management:
- Prevents hazards such as tripping.
- Minimises prolonged cable exposure which could result in wear, tear, and damage, ultimately saving money.
- Increase productivity by decluttering your workspace, saving you time spent untangling unsightly wires and cables.
- In the home, cable management ensures the safety of your loved ones, creating a comfortable working environment.
- Creates a more professional look as it tidies up the workspace.
Cable Management Solutions for your Home:
Cable Ties
Also known as zip ties, they are a low cost and easy-to-use solution for securing, tying off, and bundling even the bulkiest bundles of cables.
We offer metal and PVC cable tie options for your varying applications needs.
Metal Cable Ties: Metal (stainless-steel) cable ties are highly recommended for outdoor use and are suitable for domestic, commercial, and more commonly, industrial applications.
The Termtech TTSS200 200mm x 4.6mm Ball Lock Cable Tie is a pack of 100, 200mm metal ball lock cable ties manufactured from high-quality marine grade 304 stainless steel that complies with BS 7671 standards for safe wiring systems installation.
The self-locking ball is a quick and easy fixing style that locks into place at any length along the cable tie and features an enclosed head that ensures no dirt or grit affects the locking system.
In addition, the stainless-steel cable ties are flame retardant, durable, and corrosion resistant as they have an active working temperature between -80°C to 540°C. This makes them ideal for use in applications that require higher tensile strength, higher temperature range, and enhanced resistance to harsh weather, ageing, fire, or chemicals.
Another example of metal cable ties is the SWA SST304RB20046 Stainless Steel Cable Ties 200×4.6mm (Pack Of 100).
These cable ties are a brilliant option when looking at your cable management needs and we also offer these in 300 and 360×4.6mm to cater to a wide range of fittings.
PVC Cable Ties: Plastic cable ties are ideal for most general-purpose cable management applications such as securing and organising cables.
The SWA CT160-2.5B 160mm x 2.5mm Black Nylon 6/6 Cable Tie is a pack of 100 single-use, black cable ties designed for securing, organising, and protecting bundles of cables and wires.
As they have a self-locking construction, smooth round edges, and low insertion force, they are quick and easy to install. They also have internal serrations that ensure a positive hold onto cable and pipe bundles. For neatness, you can trim single-use cable ties as you desire.
In addition, it is extremely strong and weather resistant which makes it suitable for use in exterior applications.
Check out our ‘Cable Ties’ blog for further details on plastic and metal cable ties.
Steel Baskets
These are a lightweight overhead cable management solution for routing cables and wires around a building, offering an open design that enables easy access to your cables. The steel baskets we offer also provide quick heat dissipation for cables that run hot. They also feature incredible load carrying performance, making them ideal for domestic, commercial, and industrial applications. Steel baskets are also known as cable trays and can be used for the back of your desk in the form of an under-wire basket.
For example the Pemsa 60512300 Rejiband Rapide 300mm x 60mm x 3m Wire Basket Tray, Electro-Galvanised has a tough and durable electro-zinc plated finish. It is lightweight, allowing for bends to be made easily. This helps reduce the time and site costs.
In addition, it is designed for quick and easy installations and is suitable for interior installations where the atmosphere is non-corrosive.
Cable Sleeving
This is designed to protect, insulate, and help colour code cabling for more organised installations. They are particularly handy for installations where there are several wires/cables running in the same direction as you can group and hide them with cable sleeves. Our range of cable sleeving are designed to be highly weather, abrasion, and chemical damage resistant, with heat shrink sleeving options available.
A good example of this is the SWA SP25EU 25.4mm Coloured Heat Shrink Sleeving Pack, it is a flexible flame retardant 2:1 shrink ratio heat shrinkable tubing designed for several applications such as insulation, marking purposes, strain relief and mechanical protection. It is typically used for electrical insulation around cables, connectors, joints, and terminals; however, it can also be used to prevent the penetration of dust or water. The pack includes black, blue, brown, green/yellow and grey heat shrinks.
In addition, its corrosion-proofing properties make it ideal for use with metallic tubes, rods and aerials. It is manufactured from a standard-grade polyolefin heat wrap material which is self-extinguishing. The tubing of the SWA SP25EU can also shrink at comparatively low temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius. Its flexible construction provides great insulation properties. It can also be printed on without adhesive, does not melt and is resistant to cold flow. The pack includes a total of 15 lengths/tubes (3 of each colour) that you can shrink with a hot airgun or naked flame. It is RoHS compliant.
We also stock cable sleeving in drums of the same colour.
Floor Boxes
To safely and securely house buried, underfloor cables, wires, and electrical equipment, floor service boxes/outlets are the ideal solution. They ensure an easy off-site pre-wiring process, as well as offering ample space to store your phones, tablets, and any other device on top of. Floor boxes are also advantageous in offices and work spaces as they allow instant and easy access to power and data when required.
e.g. The Electrak CR012 85mm 3 Compartment Deep Floor Service Box is a service outlet and slab-mounted single base, 85mm depth floor box with 3 compartments. Each compartment has 2 entries for 20mm and 2 entries for 25mm flexible conduits. It is 85mm deep and is designed to fit 100mm wide plates.
In addition, it is manufactured from durable, hard-wearing ABS material with a lid reinforced with a 0.9mm thick galvanised mild steel plate mounting frame and box base. It is available with separate individual compartment base units to ensure an easy and simple off-site pre-wiring process. The Electrak CR012 meets the standards of BS EN 61534-22.
Cable Capping
Using a cord cover such as cable capping (also known as trunking) is ideal for cables that are built into walls or under floors. Cable capping helps protect your cabling against damage during plastering with our metal capping options offering higher impact resistance. This is because cables can easily snag if on a sharp edge. We also offer PVC capping which is much easier to cut to your desired size.
We stock plastic cable capping and steel cable capping.
Plastic Capping
The Marshall Tufflex ECC21WH 13mm x 8mm x 2m High Impact PVC-U Channel/Capping Trunking is used for protecting your channelled electrical wiring routes. It is perfect for general domestic installations.
It is designed to stop users drilling into live cables and to prevent cables from spilling out of a channel during plastering. With its high-impact defences, it will protect wires built in wall channels or under floors from damage. Additionally, it comes with a white finish and is suitable for round conduit boxes.
Steel Capping
The Green Brook GC25 Norslo 25mm x 2m Galvanised Steel Channel/Capping is a quick and easy cable management solution for protecting your cabling against damage during plastering. It is used for switch drops and domestic installations.
It is also designed to protect users from drilling into live cables. The Green Brook GC25 also helps with complying with IET regulations and can be easily installed.
Cable Clips
These are practical cable management tools for safely organising cables in the home. They allow users to quickly and easily fix cables into place whether it’s on a wall, skirting board, floor, or ceiling. They hold onto the end of cables which helps to keep your desk tidy and organised. Aside from keeping your workspace tidy, they can also prevent trip hazards by keeping loose wires out of the way. Our range of cable clips are available in various sizes and fastening methods making for a versatile cable management solution.
Flat Clips
Flat clips are nail-down or self-adhesive cable clips used for holding ribbon or flat wires to fixtures such as walls. They are perfect for tidying up cables in business and domestic environments.
e.g. The SWA FFNC25G Nail On Cable Clips Fire Resistant Twin & Earth 2.5mm Grey come as a pack of 100 with nails. The clips are manufactured from hardened steel with zinc plating and a powder coated finish. They are suitable for use with most materials and can be used with a pin plug where necessary.
Overall, they are perfect for flat cables and are ideal for tidying up cables in both work/business and home/domestic environments.
Linian Clips
Linian clips ensure a faster and safer cable fixing installations, significantly reducing labour costs thanks to their simple and innovative design. They can be used with round cables and PVC trunking, as well as Ethernet cables and other electrical wiring around your home, office, and even industrial environments. Overall, they help improve organisation and safety in a range of industries.
e.g. The Termtech 1LCW68 2 6-8mm Twin Linian Fire Cable Fixing Clips provides you with maximum reliability and performance whilst also saving you time during installation therefore reducing labour costs. These clips have an innovative design that is ideal for use with round cables and trunking to improve organisation and safety.
They are available in a range of sizes to cover fire, armoured and twin and earth cables. They also accept 2 cables with an overall diameter of 6-8mm. Additionally, they are corrosion-resistant and UV stable, meeting BS8519:2010 and BS7671 standards.
Metal Flat Clips
Metal clips are a knock-in style fixing with a nail head that is easy to use and install. The metal flat clips we offer are 18th edition complaint and fire, corrosion, solvent, and chemical resistant. They can be used in building escape routes and are more often used in demanding industrial applications.
e.g. The Termtech TTMFC6 6mm Twin & Earth Metal Fire Resistant Clip (Pack of 100) is 18th edition compliant and easy to use. It features a knock-in style fixing with a 6mm nail head. In addition, it is resistant to fire, corrosion, solvents and chemicals.
P Clips
P clips are a mix of plastic and metal ‘P-type’ clips manufactured from copper and with LSF powder coating. They are very easy to use as they only require one screw to connect and hold a cable securely. They are typically used in industrial applications. P clips are versatile tools as they can be used for earth cables, cables with sleeving, co-axial cables, permanent or semi-permanent fixing of cables, hoses, pipes and more. They are specifically designed for use with mineral insulated cables and soft skin fire cables.
A great example of P clips that we offer is the SWA RCHL34-50BLK P Clips Powder Coated LSF Black (Pack Of 50). They are designed for use with mineral-insulated cables and soft skin fire cables. The P-clip allows for permanent or semi-permanent fixing of cables, hoses and pipes. In addition, it is manufactured from copper and has an LSF powder coating which makes it fire-resistant.
Round Clips
Round cable clips are available in a variety of configurations such as screw-down and self-adhesive versions. This makes them suitable for a range of applications and environments. The most common type of round clips are the nail-in variation with nails made from high carbon steel materials. Round clips are the most widely used type of fixing solution in indoor and outdoor domestic and business spaces. They are ideal for tidying up cables – particularly flat/round cables. Overall round clips are suitable for use with most materials.
e.g. The Unicrimp QRC4 Round Cable Clips 5-7mm Black (Pack Of 100) comes as a pack of 100. These round cable clips have steel nails. They are suitable for use with most materials and can be used with a pin plug where necessary. Not surprisingly, these cable clips are perfect for round cables. They are an ideal cable management tool for tidying up cables in work and domestic environments.
Flat, Linian and Round cables are the most suitable type of cable clips for domestic applications. If you are looking for cable clips for commercial or industrial settings we would suggest nail on clips which we offer as both round clips and flat clips.
In conclusion, there are a range of cable management solutions available depending on your area of use and specific requirements. Effective cable management solutions at home are crucial to not only maintain a tidy space, but most importantly, ensure safety for you, your loved ones, and your belongings.