Home of the future has pre-wired conduits
They are smooth and easy to work with, just like all Draka cables.
The housing shortage in the Netherlands is so great that the quality of new-build homes is under pressure. But not for BINK Elektro. By installing pre-wired conduits, the company saves many man-hours without sacrificing quality. Smart installation doesn't have to be high-tech, as the installer in Breda's Nieuw Mertersem new housing estate proves.
BINK Elektro saves at least one day of assembly on every owner-occupied home. "Installing an electrical installation with fixed PVC pipes and then drawing wires takes one day per home. At the same time, we will be equipping two homes with pre-wired pipes. That saves half," says senior First Mechanic Kurt van den Hout. Out of the project total of 75 homes, the time saved is therefore more than one month. In addition, one technician is sufficient, while wire drawing often requires two technicians. It is not for nothing that BINK Elektro mainly uses pre-wired conduits.
We are not a traditional installation company
Breaking traditionMany electricians in the Netherlands prefer the traditional installation method of laying fixed pipes and drawing wires. Van den Hout also worked in this way for decades. But since he switched to BINK Elektro six months ago, he has been convinced. "I abhorred flexible tubes, because they make it difficult to pull wires. But we overcome that disadvantage by laying the pre-wired pipes as tightly as possible and possibly anchoring them with staples. And the short pieces from box to box are no problem anyway."
Smooth assemblyThe Breda town houses, which Nederlandse Bouw Unie and Maas-Jacobs are building on the Laan van Mertersem, have three floors and an attic. The floors consist of wide slab floors with lattice girders over which a 20 cm thick concrete pressure layer is eventually poured. This reinforcement makes it difficult to lay rigid pre-wired pipes. In addition, stiff variants are difficult to untangle if they get tangled up when unrolling. However, Draka's Profit pre-wired conduits do not have these disadvantages: "They are smooth and easy to process, just like all Draka cables. I never have any problems." An additional advantage is that Draka supplies the pre-wired pipes on reels of 500 meters, which means that BINK Elektro has 80% less cutting losses.
Making money with qualityFor the Breda housing project, Draka expects to supply approximately 30 reels, each with 500 meters of Profit 3G2.5 mm2 VD wire. Half of these have now been delivered via wholesale partner Rexel. Only for the optional installation of solar panels, BINK Elektro still processes fixed PVC pipes as empty pipes. This means that Nieuw Mertersem's ET installations consist of 95% pre-wired pipes. Van den Hout expects that within 10 years, most new-build homes will be installed with pre-wired pipes. "This method works faster and is an easy way to install good home installations with quality products."
