Tie Wraps vs. Velcro

My guess is that most of you haven’t heard about the ongoing battle of the tie wrap versus velcro, right?

OK, it’s not making news headlines and most people have better things to think about than tie wraps and velcro.  However, it is something that can effect the performance of your cable infrastructure.

Look at the cable bundles to the right.  If you look close you can see the tie wraps on the right bundle are actually crushing the cable.  The left bundle is using velcro, the cables are still secure, but the cables are safe and undamaged.

Another advantage of velcro, besides a better appearance, is the velcro is reusable.  If I want to add one more cable to the left bundle…no problem.  Take off the velcro, add the cable, reinstall the velcro.  In order to add a cable to the right bundle, I would have two options: 1) add the cable outside the existing tie wraps with new tie wraps, or 2) cut the existing tie wraps, add the cable and install all new tie wraps.  Option 1 will look terrible, especially if it happens more than once; option 2 is fine, but requires you to have extra tie wraps and clean up your mess of “cut” tie wraps that you removed.

I’m not saying tie wraps aren’t useful, just not for “dressing” cables.  They can be beneficial in securing cables in the ceiling space, just don’t crush the cables, and make sure you use plenum tie wraps if it’s a plenum ceiling. 

Hint…last time I checked, plenum velcro was cheaper than plenum tie wraps.

Have a good weekend!

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