Why easy-to-use enclosures are essential to speed up work for electrical installers

The ongoing labour shortage in the electrical installation sector is making time efficiency on site more important than ever. Protecting connections and electrical components, enclosures are key across electrical installations. This means housings that are fast and straightforward to work with are important to any installer, whether the installation will take place indoors, outdoors, or with special requirements. Chris Lloyd explains

The recruitment challenge of electrical contractors shows no signs of slowing. While reports welcomed by the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA) suggest the electrical workforce has declined by over 25% since 2018, experienced electricians leaving the industry are not being replaced. A recent story issued by the NICEIC said that of the 10,500 apprentices needed annually to stabilise the country’s electrical workforce, less than 8,000 apprentices are starting each year. This picture is similar across Europe.

What this means right now for electrical contractors is that to maximise productivity against high demand, speed and ease of work is more crucial than ever. Across electrical installation projects, installing distributions and termination can account for a large proportion of on-site labour time. As a result, simplifying this process, while ensuring a reliable job first time, can make a significant time saving.

Plug-and-play systems

To make installation faster and easier, we’re seeing growing demand for plug-and-play systems featuring enclosures that are pre-wired with ready-to-connect sockets. Instead of building complete distributions or junctions on-site, installers only need to mount the enclosure and plug the input/output cables into the connections.

Spelsberg’s new TKS enclosures can integrate over 20 WAGO WINSTA pre-assembled plug connectors. Instead of performing individual field terminations into junction boxes or terminal strips, installers simply mate pre-assembled, coded connectors together. WINSTA is a factory-tested pluggable connection system available in male and female formats, with mechanical coding to prevent errors, which significantly reduce installation time on site.

The TKS enclosures are designed for indoor use and present time savings when connection repeatability is required for installations in buildings such as apartments, offices, or municipal buildings such as schools or hospitals. Manufactured from lightweight polycarbonate, this makes the enclosures easy to handle and highly durable for long-term use.

Outdoor and industrial protection

Although most electrical installation takes place indoors, moving outside or to industrial environments, distributions and connection points need more protection, but ease of use is still crucial to get the job done quickly. While a key attribute of an enclosure is ingress protection to prevent rain or corrosive liquids from penetrating to connections inside, the housing must still allow straightforward cable installation while maintaining its protective seal. An advantage of polycarbonate enclosures over metallic designs is not only their resistance to corrosion but their flexibility in installation, more readily allowing fast customisation on-site if required.

For example, Spelsberg’s Abox Pro enclosure features multiple knock-out points in its walls, allowing a wide choice over cable routing position. Knock-out cable entry/exit points are then secured with a sealing gland, maintaining the enclosure’s ingress protection rating, which extends through to IP69, preventing the entry of water from high-pressure jets. For easy wiring within the enclosure, the option of tool-free, push-fit cable terminals are also available.

Suitable for almost any outdoor environment, the Abox Pro is also resistant to ammonia, which is common in industrial and agricultural environments, and these housings can even be used in salt water maritime settings.

Concrete installation

While electrical installation can take place across a variety of demanding environments, working with concrete construction and fabrication has specific requirements. Whether the junction or terminal enclosure will be integrated pre-cast or during a cast-in-place process, it’s essential that they accurately maintain position during casting to allow straightforward first fix wiring installation.

To achieve this, Spelsberg’s IBT system uses magnet-mounted fixing for accurate positioning within formwork, combined with sealing entry systems that allow conduits to be connected after mounting while preventing concrete ingress during the pour. This approach improves the positional accuracy of electrical connections, significantly reducing installation time on site for electricians.

Fire protection

Within many buildings, the electrical installation can also be relied on to supply fire protection and evacuation equipment, such as emergency lighting or smoke extractors. While concrete can form a defence, depending on its thickness and the insulation materials used in conjunction, specific fire-protection enclosures can guarantee integrity for up to 90 minutes in the event of a fire. For wall-mounted junctions serving fire-protection equipment, enclosures like this are essential.

Spelsberg’s WKE enclosures provide this long duration of protection in the event of a fire. Also constructed from polycarbonate, this material is non-conductive during fire or heat exposure, preventing the risk of short circuit. While wall-mounted enclosures like the WKE are much faster to work with in installation, the design also features knock-out holes for flexible cable installation, maintaining their protection with included glands. Inside the enclosure, the terminal block position is adjustable, while cables can be connected with a tool-free design.

While the demand on electrical installers remains high in the face of the ongoing labour shortage in the sector, techniques that improve productivity and reduce time on site are more valuable than ever. Easy-to-use enclosures that enable faster installation of junctions, distributions, and electrical devices are crucial to this.

Chris Lloyd is Managing Director at Spelsberg UK.