Waterblocking

It may be that when you read the title of this blog, "Waterblocking" that you thought to yourself,
"Isn't ALL jacketed wire and cable waterproof?" The answer is "No." Almost every jacket
compound, from PVC to Polyethylene to Teflon® is at least water resistant, so they can get wet and
then dry out and they cables would probaby be okay. It really depends on how much time they
spend in water, and what kind of exposure they might have. For example if your cable is on the
outside deck of a ship, that would require a lot more waterblocking protection than inside a rack
room. The real problem is when a cable is in standing water which doesn't go away. An example of
this could be a conduit filled with water goes all the way to a lake in a theme park. Water is often
called the 'universal solvent': given enough time, it will get through anything. Water can easily work
its way through polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is the most common cable jacket material. A cable
underwater with a PVC jacket maybe has weeks, or a few months, before it fails. The first step
toward long-term waterblocking is a better jacket material such as polyethylene (PE). This is much
more water resistant, especially if it is high-density PE, and may last many months, even years,
underwater. But there is one more step you can take, and that is to specify that the cable has a
'waterblocking' layer.

There are two kinds of waterblocking, dry waterblocking and gel waterblocking. Dry waterblocking
is another layer in the cable, under the jacket but over everything else. It's an impregnated cloth
that is wrapped on the core of the cable. If there is a hole or cut in the jacket, and water touches
this layer, it will swell up and block the water. Because it is just a cloth layer, it has no effect on the
performance of the cable or on the connectorization. Just cut that extra layer and put on connectors
as usual. Dry waterblocking will double or triple the life of a cable where water is a problem.
However, if that is not enough you can always ask for the ultimate in waterblocking: gel. This
material is added to a braid shield or extruded on top of a foil shield. Because it is a gel, it tends to
flow and fill in any gaps or openings that appear. But gel-filled waterblocking is hard to work with.
Once you strip the cable, you have to remove the gel before you can put on a connector. (The gel
is not conductive.) You can remove gel with special wipes for that purpose such as alcohol wipes or
citrus wipes. Wipes used to clean fiber can also work here such as D'Gel-FO made by PT
Technologies/LPS Worldwide, and many others. But gel-filled waterblocking is the ultimate in long-
term protection.

Belden makes a number of waterblocked cables, and you can find many of them by putting the
word 'waterblock' in the search box of our eCatalog on our web page (www.belden.com). Our web
page shows many of our waterblocked cables such as our Waterdog™ line of cables. These are
dry waterblocking, as are our multipair analog audio snake line 1814WB-1818WB. We also have a
single analog audio pair waterblocked, 9451WB. We even have giant Class 1 speaker cables
8810WB and 8808WB, which commonly might be buried in a stadium or theme park and could be
wet a lot of the time. We also have 1694WB which is our most rugged waterblocking digital video
cable. With the same performance and distance as regular 1694A, it has both a high-density PE
jacket and a gel waterblocking layer for our ultimate long-term water protection.
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The one thing I haven't mentioned is connectors. If the connectors are not intended to be used
outdoors, then your waterblocked cable has to come into the building before it is connected. And
there lies another problem, because many of these cables have no fire rating. The NEC code says
very clearly that any installed cable must have a fire rating, even if it is installed in conduit.
Waterblocked cables with PE jackets have no rating. Fine for outdoor applications but not for
indoor. The NEC code says you can go 50 ft. into a building with unrated cable before you have to
change to a fire rated cable (CM, riser, plenum etc.). There are a few connectors available for
outdoor, weatherproof, applications such as rugged XLR connectors in the Neutrik line (for analog
or digital audio balanced lines), or Belden's new watertight BNC connector 1694ABHDLW.

Do you have any questions regarding your waterblocking options? Leave a comment or drop me a
line at steve.lampen@belden.com.