PORTABLE FENCE COMPONENTS

The most commonly used PORTABLE FENCE COMPONENTS for portable fencing are polywire and polytape. Both of these materials are combinations of plastic strands and metal filaments. Usually the plastic component is polyethylene and the metal is stainless steel. Other products are available that use fiberglass strands for structure and aluminum or tin-copper alloy for the conductors. The main feature of these products is that they are lightweight and require no tools for setup. Virtually no bracing is needed to hold the fence and very light duty line posts may be used. The main limitation of the poly products is the distance that they can be energized before the internal resistance of the fine wire filaments used as conductors becomes restrictive. Most polywire contains either 6 or 9 strands of conducting wires. The wires may either be stainless steel or some alloy with higher electrical conductivity, such as tin-copper. The 9-strand stainless steel can be effectively energized for distances up to ½ mile or 2640 feet. Beyond this distance, voltage may begin to drop off. A 6-strand tin-copper product is usually more conductive than 9-strand stainless steel and may be energized for greater distances. The downside of tin-copper filaments is they are not as durable as stainless steel. More strands of plastic in 9-strand products also serve to increase the breaking strength and visibility of the product. Both 6 or 9-strand products may contain two or three color filaments, which greatly adds to the visibility and longevity of the material. Polywire is available in two different basic forms: twisted or braided. Braided polywire offers several advantages over twisted products. Conductivity of any braided cable is greater than a solid wire of similar gauge. This is because electricity moves along the wire surface, not through its core. Braiding increases the effective surface area of wire. Braiding also increases strength whether we’re talking about plastic string or wire. Braided polywire has significantly higher breaking strength compared to twisted polywire. Added strength means greater longevity for the product. Cheaper polywires end up being much more expensive than buying top quality polybraid due to their much shorter life expectancy. We now use gallaher Polybraid exclusively in our temporary fence situations. Its available at www.valleyfarmsupply.net  Polytape comes in a similar array of options. Generally the cheaper the price, the fewer wires and less durable the plastic. Polytape should be purchased on the basis of number of filaments and quality of the plastic weave in the tape. A good polytape will have the visible appearance of good stout strapping tape and contain at least 6 wire filaments. Tape has the advantage of greater visibility when compared to polywire. The tape tends to flutter in the breeze and attract animal attention and inspection. This generally leads to quicker animal recognition and training to the fence. However, the same fluttering may cause greater wear of the tape on metal post clips or insulators that will reduce the useful life of the fence. A good quality tape should have a useful life of 5 to 7 years unless it is handles abusively. Polywire may last up to 10-15 years with proper use. Each new generation of PORTABLE FENCE COMPONENTS has a longer useful life.