A termite’s first love is timber, but it’s also worth protecting data cabling from these resilient pests. Caroline Reidy reports.

Termites have been known to eat through plastic water pipes, lead batteries, car tyres and even billiard balls, so it’s no surprise that – despite providing no nutrition whatsoever – telephone and data cabling is also often on the menu.

“It is not known why cabling is attractive to termites,” says Hilary Marazzato, Olex Cables technical manger. Olex is an Australian manufacturer of electrical cables including general purpose, fixed and flexible and special purpose cables.

“The discussion goes that the cable may just be in their way,” Hilary explains. “Or that the warmth may attract termites. There’s even conjecture about the electric or magnetic field. The cable materials are not edible, so it’s not for food.”

Around for 50 million years, these hardy pests thrive in the Australian climate, and in particular warmer tropical areas such as far north Queensland, where they pose a structural risk year-round. In cooler climates such as Melbourne and Adelaide the termite threat is more seasonal. Tasmania is the only spot where the risk is negligible.

There are around 350 species of white ants, as termites are also known, in Australia. With timber their preferred food source, appropriate construction is the first barrier of defence and this includes designing buildings with physical termite barriers. Strip footings and slabs should have minimal construction breaks to avoid joints, which appeal to the pests. All materials in contact with the ground should be termite resistant.

Services – pipes, plumbing and wiring – should be designed and installed so they do not penetrate through slabs or footings, and consequently end up in a termite’s path. Physical and chemical barriers can be used when this is not possible and as a form of added protection.
“The main issue for cable is that termites attack when the cable is buried,” says Hilary. “The termite has plenty of wood to eat in a house, so it is unlikely to attack in-home cable.”

Olex uses and recommends traditional physical barriers, such as brass taping or nylon jackets as a cabling defence against termites. Nylon is too hard for a termite to chew through, yet flexible enough to be wound and manipulated into required space. 

All Olex cables boast copper or aluminium conductors and an insulation layer such as PVC or polyethylene. Then, depending on its purpose, some cables will have additional layers added, such as armouring for mechanical protection, or nylon for termite protection.

“Extra layers are needed in the cable to provide the protection,” explains Hilary. “Electrically, there’s no difference, just an increase in cable layers.

Research by CSIRO shows that hard materials work best to stop termites. If a hard material is also slippery then a termite’s pincers can’t get a hold of it.

“Olex does not favor the use of repellents or pesticides.  The tests we have commissioned, show they do not work,” Hilary concludes.

The electrical industry as a whole has invested many years on research into chemical and alternative repellents as an alternative to physical barriers in cabling, which are generally considered effective but are sometimes viewed as expensive. 

Traditionally, however, these products have failed to contain enough repellent to prevent an ongoing onslaught from a colony of termites. There has also been concern about dangers of handling such chemicals and their environmental impacts.

Prysmian has recently released the Termitex cable protection system designed to overcome these issues. Suitable for both domestic and commercial installations, this product has already been installed at Mica Creek Power Station and the Lavarack Barracks, both in Queensland, Williamstown Royal Air Force Base in New South Wales, Broome Power Station and the Port Headland Underground Power Project in Western Australia.

This termite repellent can be added to the sheathing compound of most standard cables during manufacture, meaning it can be used in a variety of installation settings.

The result of many years of research, Prysmian claims the product’s advantages over traditional termite protection include ease of handling and installation, cost effectiveness and compatibility to health, safety and environmental requirements.

Other market offerings include Rilsamid cabling by European manufacturer Arkema. This cable sheathing contains the Rilsan polymer, which the company claims provides protection against termites. Boasting a very smooth surface finish, termites find it difficult to attach to the compound.