Smurf Tube is a trendy conduit system for managing and hiding cables and TV wires. The use of this tube is getting popular day by day as it increases the room’s beauty by hiding messy wires or cables and giving a clean and decent look.
Depending on various sizes and types, this tube can be used for various purposes though in most cases, it is used for managing TV cables.
What is Smurf Tube?
In general, a nonmetallic tube which is used as a conduit to manage and hide optic cable, especially TV cables and wires, is known as a Smurf Tube. Though the tubes come with originally blue colour but nowadays the tube also comes with the various colour option, especially orange.
If you want to hang your TV above the fireplace and if you have a flat-screen TV to set up in your media room, using the Smurf Tube can be very beneficial for you as it will hide all the messy wires and give you a clean and smart look and overall enhance your room beauty.
The Benefit of Smurf Tube
There are lots of benefits to using a Smurf Tube as a cable management conduit. First of all, it works as the best protection for your low voltage wires like PJ and HDMI wires and cables. Secondly, you can hide all the messy wires or cables in it, which will give you a decent and clean look.
Thirdly as it is coming with various colour options now, you can enhance your room’s beauty by choosing the suitable colour for your room. On the other hand, the Smurf Tube is flexible, so you can give any shape to it according to your requirement, which also enhances your room’s beauty, and at the same time, it is futuristic as you can shift it later according to your need.
What is Smurf Tubing Used for?
Smurf Tube and PVC pipes have been popular cable management systems for years. They both are used for hiding wires, but the Smurf Tube has some unique ability that the PVC pipe doesn’t have, which is bendability.
You can easily bend the Smurf Tube according to your requirement. Most of the electrical wires hide by using PVC pipes inside the walls, but the extra wires and cables like the TV power cable and satellite TV network cables left outside the wall can destroy your room’s beauty; that is why the Smurf Tube is used for.
Though mostly the tube is used for hiding TV wires and cables, you can also use it for any extra wire management in your home or office.
Smurf Tube vs PVC pipes
As I discussed earlier, both have a unique purpose and use. PVC pipes are ideal for hiding electrical power lines connected to the light, fan, ac, and any power outlet. But for managing or hiding external wires or cables like TV wires, CD/DVD and Home Theater system cables, there is no alternative of Smurf Tube.
For long-time cable management, PVC has better longevity as they are inserted in the wall; in that case, the Smurf Tube is inferior to the PVC pipe in terms of longevity.
But in terms of flexibility Smurf Tube is the superior one as it can be bent according to your requirement, so in a critical situation or a place where the PVC pipes are unable to use, the Smurf Tube conduit can be a great solution.
What Size Smurf Tube for HDMI?
Answering the question is pretty hard as there is no specific size conduit for HDMI and the size of the cable also varies depending on the style and brand of the HDMI cable. In general, a ¾”, 1″ or even 11/2″ Smurf pipe may be suitable to insert the usual HDMI cables.
To make it more futuristic, I will recommend using a bit bigger size Smurf Tube as you may need to insert more cables into it in the future. On the other hand, a bigger tube will prevent your cables from damaging while bending the Smurf Tube during installation.
Low Voltage Smurf Tube
Though the Smurf Tube is made for managing low voltage wires like HDMI, PJ, Satellite TV networks cables and other low-powered cables, at present Smurf Tube is also used for high voltage cable management. The high voltage and low voltage Smurf Tubes are not the same.
Low voltage Smurf Tube comes with thin and mild material built which only prevents the low voltage wires. So if you are planning to buy a Smurf Tube for managing low-voltage wires or cables specially to hide the TV wires, you can buy the thin one; otherwise, you can buy the solid built one in case of managing high voltage Smurf cables.
How to Install Smurf Tube?
Installing a Smurf Tube is quite simple. First, you have to decide whether the tube will insulate in the wall or you will use the tube as an external conduit. I recommend using the tube as an external conduit as it will allow you to easily change the place and position whenever you need it later.
For external use, reconsider the colour of the tube, which will blend with your room easily. Now take a measurement and cut it; if you are not great at the measurement, you can cut it with some extra length, and you can recut the extra length of it according to your need after the installation.
Now insert the cables and wires that you want to hide and put the tube against the wall. Don’t forget to bend it where it needs to. Lastly, use tube clips to fix it into their position and you are done.
Final Words
So from the above discussion, I hope you have already gotten all your answers about Smurf Tube. Still, if you have any confusion about installation and anything about Smurf Tube, I suggest watching some YouTube videos about Smurf Tube; it will surely clear your confusion.
One thing I should mention as the Smurf Tube is a popular way of managing wires and cables; they became plentiful in the market. So considering the brand value and warranty period before buying will be a wise decision.
