Earth Sleeving, What is it and why use it on Cable?

1) WHAT IS EARTH SLEEVING?

Well, Earth sleeving is a protective, flexible, PVC tube that slips over bare copper circuit protective conductors in wiring systems. Its purpose is to protect the copper conductor from interaction with any live conductor in electrical installations and to enable easy earth identification. The sleeving also offers some protection against corrosion from the elements.

The same color is also used on the mains earth conductor for electrical systems as well as the circuit protective conductor. Earth cable comes pre- colored from the manufacturer and would not need sleeving unless a different colored conductor was used as the earthing conductor.

2) What colour should earth sleeve be?

Earth sleeving should be a combination of green and yellow in color. One of the colors should be at least 30% but not more than 70% of the surface being covered whilst the other color should cover the remainder of the surface under regulation 514.4.2 BS7671.

The color is found in stripes along the horizontal length of the sleeve.

Older earth sleeving is likely to be a solid green color for an electrical installation dating to pre 1978. The solid green colour may be very dark green or light green.

3) What sizes of earth sleeving are available?

There are a wide range of sizes widely available from 1.0 mm diameter up to 16.0 mm diameter. Earth sleeve should fit snugly on the copper conductor and as such, the closest size above the conductor size is recommended. 16.0mm earth sleeve is far too bulky for a C.P.C of 1mm in a lighting circuit and would likely clog up a back box and make installation more difficult than necessary.

4) Is there a difference in quality?

Different manufacturers will use a differing amount of plasticizer in the material to allow for flexibility. A more flexible earth sleeve is preferred over a stiffer sleeve. Flexible sleeving is easier to apply and work with than a stiff earth sleeve although, as long as the circuit protective conductor is correctly sleeved it doesn’t matter. 
High quality pvc earth sleeving is available from all good electrical wholesalers in store and on-line and is relatively inexpensive.

5) What does it cost?

Earth sleeves are a relatively inexpensive product and is important to the safe operation of an electrical wiring system. 
Whilst smaller quantities are available, most electricians will purchase a roll or bundle of 100 meters of earth sleeving at a time. Prices are typically around £5-£7 for 100 meters of 2-3mm diameter earth sleeving. 16.0mm x 100 meters earth sleeving is available from about £20 -£30.

6) Where should earths be sleeved?

Cable protection and identification should be carried out on earths wherever there are bare earth wires exposed. 6242y (Twin and Earth) cables to BS6004 in 2024 have a bare copper circuit protective conductor when stripped. 
The green PVC and yellow earth protection sleeving needs to be applied in all situations where this earth is displayed such as:

• Junction Boxes
• Tight Spaces
• Behind Electrical Accessories
• Inside the consumer unit

7) Do other conductors need to be sleeved?

Occasionally it is necessary to sleeve other electrical conductors aside from earth wiring to enable identification. Such is the case when identifying switch lines and neutral conductors on SWA cables for example. In these instances, there are other cable sleeves available.

Electrical sleeving is common practice on lighting circuit to identify all Live conductors where the live conductor may be a color other than brown (or red in the case of older wiring systems). The type of sleeve required will depend upon the type of conductor needed to be sleeved.

8) Can conductors be taped instead of sleeved?

Tape has been used in the past to identify conductors and whilst tape has some benefits like decent tensile strength and the small size of its original packaging, it is prone to coming unstuck and falling off the wire.

9) Sleeving is a much better way of identifying wires and will not come unstuck over time like electrical tape can. Summary

Earth sleeving is a necessary product to ensure that best safe electrical practices are carried out. Additional information on the requirements for sleeving conductors in various situations can be found in the “Requirements for Electrical Installations” BS7671 book available from the IET.

It is a commonly missed practice in electrical installations and regularly picked up as an advisory item on electrical safety inspections.