Wash-Down Ready: Electri-Flex Food-Grade Liquatite and the Approvals That Clear a Submittal
In a food or beverage plant the wiring has to survive the cleaning, not just the process. Wash-down cycles, caustics, sanitizers and high-pressure hoses are routine, and the surfaces in the room get chosen on how well they shed all of it. Conduit is one of those surfaces.
Electri-Flex publishes four food-grade Liquatite conduits, and the differences between them are worth knowing before a submittal goes out.
Type LAFG is the jacketed metallic version, with an improved antimicrobial PVC jacket in food-processing blue. Type LAFG-SS is the same idea with a stainless steel core for environments where corrosion is the bigger concern. Type NMFG is the nonmetallic variety. Type LNMP-Food Grade is an antimicrobial high-flex nonmetallic, for runs that move.
Three of the four, Types LAFG, LAFG-SS and LNMP-Food Grade, use an antimicrobial blue PVC jacket. Electri-Flex states the jacket is designed to inhibit the growth of common food processing microbes, including E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella. The blue is a safety decision as well: it stands out against anything on the line, so a fragment from accidental damage is easy to spot in a processing area. Type NMFG does not carry the antimicrobial jacket, though Electri-Flex states it will not promote bacteria growth.
The approvals are the part that clears a submittal. Electri-Flex states that the line is UL Listed and CSA Certified, that the jacketing uses an FDA-approved compound, and that the products meet FDA CFR 21 and NSF 51/61 requirements. The line is also an NSF-Certified Component for NSF/ANSI 169 special purpose food equipment, and it is resistant to sodium hypochlorite, which is the practical way of saying it holds up to bleach. WEEE, RoHS and ARRA compliance are published as well.
Temperature range matters more in these plants than people expect, because the same facility often has a freezer on one side of a wall and a cook or sterilization process on the other. Types LAFG, LAFG-SS and LNMP-Food Grade are published across a range of -37°C to 105°C, which covers both ends of that building.
The smooth exterior is the quiet design decision in the whole line. A jacket with texture or seams gives residue somewhere to sit, and in a room that gets inspected, somewhere for residue to sit is a finding waiting to happen. The food-grade Liquatite jackets are built smooth for exactly that reason.
Electri-Flex points the line at poultry and food manufacturing, pharmaceutical preparation, food packaging and bottling, healthcare, and clean room installations. That covers a lot of what gets built and retrofitted across our territory.
Our advice to distributors and contractors in North Texas and Oklahoma is straightforward: when a wash-down, antimicrobial or NSF condition appears in a spec, bring it to us before substituting a standard liquidtight. The version that satisfies it already exists in the catalog, and the conversation takes a few minutes.
Electri-Flex released a new whiteboard video on the food-grade line on September 30. It walks through all four types in under two minutes and is worth sharing with anyone writing the specification.
If you have a food, beverage or pharmaceutical project with a sanitation requirement on the conduit, contact your Electra Sales representative and we will work through the specification with you.
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