Plastic Ducting
Plastic ducting is well suited to ventilation systems, it is lightweight and easy to fit. Plastic ductwork, manufactured in white PVC plastic, is often used when there is a risk of corrosion as it will not corrode over time.
Ducting Express has a large range of plastic ducting for ventilation and should be your first stop for plastic ducting supplies.
Plastic ducting systems are designed to have push-fit connections between lengths of ducting and plastic fittings such as connectors, bends, t-pieces, reducers, etc. These connections are manufactured to close tolerances so that air leakage is minimised, to reduce air leakage further we recommend a traditional method of jointing plus fixing screws. The traditional approved method of ducting installation is to use an acrylic or silicone sealant along with the addition of screws to prevent any movement at the joints.
As the joints between ducting and fittings are made, a thin layer of acrylic or silicone sealant is applied either on the outside of the male spigot or the inside of the female flange before the two parts are pushed together. Any excess sealant can then be wiped away. Screw’s are then added by drilling a 3mm diameter hole through the fitting and ducting and screwing a self-drilling screw through the two wall thicknesses to minimise leakage. We would recommend at least two screws approximately 180° apart for Round Ducting and if possible, four screws, one on each side, for the Rectangular Ducting if all sides are accessible. If only three sides are accessible, use two screws on the longest side and one each on the short sides.
Care should be taken to ensure that the ducting is fixed securely at appropriate intervals, either with specific fixings for the ducting size or with banding fixed to a secure surface. The Ducting should be secured so that it cannot move longitudinally or put any undue stress on the joints with adjoining fittings.
Rectangular Plastic Ducting
When you are restricted on space rectangular plastic ducting is available as well as round plastic ducting, Rectangular plastic ducting has the advantage of taking up less height than circular ducting .
Three standard rectangular plastic ducting sizes are available, 110mm x 54mm, 204mm x 60mm, 220mm x 90mm. With rectangular ducting systems, fittings are generally designed with female ends that fit over the outside of the duct so that the ducting pushes into the female end fittings.
Rigid Plastic Tubing UK
Round ducting is most suited for long duct runs where space is unrestricted, and should always be the recommended used product over rectangular plastic ducting where space allows. Round ducting has excellent airflow characteristics with minimum air turbulence. Due to the smaller surface area round ducting provides better airflow rates than it’s rectangular counterpart.
Circular plastic ducting comes in three standard sizes; 100mm plastic pipe, 125mm plastic pipe & 150mm plastic pipe. The standardisation of diameters also allows easy fitting to ventilation equipment, ducting, grilles and extractor fans. With round plastic ducting systems. fittings are generally designed with male ends that push into the inside of a length of circular duct.
Advantages of Plastic Ducting
Rigid plastic tubing has many advantages, the advantages of using plastic ducting are:
Lightweight - Plastic ducting is a lot lighter than galvanised steel ducting making it easy to install.
Easy to fit together - Circular plastic duct has large/female ends and fittings such as bends and connectors are male end so will simply fit together. To join two spirals you will need a male connection piece. Rectangular plastic ducting has small/male ends and fittings are female ends so that the ducting pushes into the female end fittings. To fit two lengths of rectangular plastic ducting together
Easy to cut - No special tools are needed to cut plastic ducting. It can be easily cut to size using a hacksaw or similar.
Smooth internal bore - A smooth inner surface to reduce airflow resistance & noise and increase the efficiency of your ventilation system.
Non-corrosive - Plastic ducting is often used in fume extraction where there is a risk of corrosion from the fumes being ventilated through the system.
Easy to switch between round and rectangular ducting - For when you need to reach tight spaces you can easily switch round ducting to rectangular using a transformer.
