Cable and pipe seal manufacturer Roxtec presents the Roxtec knock-out sleeve. It is a cast-in solution for securing planned conduit entries into buildings and vaults.

The knock-out sleeve provides a pre-sealed opening that keeps the site dry during construction. And, as the name describes, you can easily knock out the pre-sealed plate to access your engineered pathway when it is time to run cable or pipe through the conduit and install your mechanical seal around it.

With rising water levels and severe weather events, water ingress is in focus for many companies within civil construction. It is causing issues for buildings, shelters, kiosks, and vaults, during construction and in operation, and too much time and money is spent on pumping out water.

Efficient water barrier

“You can save time, reduce cost and improve construction quality by using our knock-out sleeve,” says Jim McElgunn, Regional Sales Manager Power at Roxtec. “It is a one-piece solution that combines three essential protection features which enable you ensure an efficient barrier against water, gas, and dust.”

The Roxtec knock-out sleeve combines a conduit spacer to allow for high density conduit entry without compromising concrete coverage, a puddle flange to mitigate water tracking and a bell mouth to protect the cable during installation. It is developed to ensure protection until service routing to and from a building, vault, or manhole. This pre-sealing solution is a simple way of adding spare capacity conduits for expansion. When additional services are to be installed, you simply knock out the plate of the spare capacity sleeve and insert the conduit and a Roxtec seal.

Maintain optimum conditions

It is important to prevent water, humidity, and dust to maintain optimum operating conditions for electrical equipment such as switchgear. Uncontrolled conditions can lead to switchgear failure in the form of partial discharge activity or arc flash and compromise life expectancy of critical assets.

“With the Roxtec knock-out sleeve, you do not need any cost-consuming water pumps to drain the vaults anymore. The civil construction team can hand over a clean and dry site to the mechanical and electrical installers,” says Jim McElgunn.