The ability to find underground plastic gas lines is critical to public safety, but some gas companies are reluctant to place a metal conductor with their gas lines out of fear that a lightning strike could lead to an explosive situation.

When plastic pipe and tracer wire are pulled back through a horizontal bore, the tracer wire tends to wrap around the pipe.  There are documented cases of lightning strikes that have traveled down the length of the tracer wire.  The extreme heat caused by the high voltage transfers from the tracer wire and has caused the plastic pipes to rupture and create a potential hazardous situation. 

However, there is a product that has been extensively tested and will not transfer the energy of a lightning strike.  Click here to download the test report.

Neptco revolutionized the tracer wire market when it introduced Trace Safe, the world’s first tracer wire that incorporated water blocking technology to protect the solid copper conductor from water ingress.  There are two distinct products that incorporate many of the same features but there are key differences. 

Most planning engineers will require a big tracer wire believing a wide gauge conductor will provide a better signal and be more durable than a tracer wire with a narrow gauge.  Other planning engineers will require a bigger tracer wire because they believe that a wider gauge conductor will last longer once its buried and provide greater strength during a pull back.  In either situation, a bigger tracer wire isn’t better.