3M Scotch® Detectable Buried Barricade Tape

Yes. The Scotch 406 tape uses an aluminum foil backing, which is what makes it detectable from the surface with a standard cable locator or metal detector once the trench is backfilled. That is the whole point of the detectable version versus plain polyethylene warning tape, which you can only find by digging.

The tape is printed CAUTION BURIED ELECTRIC LINE BELOW and is red, the APWA color for electric power lines and conduit. Use it over direct-buried cable, ducts, or conduit runs. If you are marking gas, water, sewer, or communications, you need a different legend and color, not this one.

Two widths: 3 inch (MPN 7000133190) and 6 inch (MPN 7000133192). Both run 1000 feet per roll. The 3 inch is the common choice for single conduit or residential and light commercial service runs; the 6 inch gives a wider visual target over a duct bank or multiple parallel circuits, where an excavator bucket is more likely to catch the edge of the trench.

Scotch 406 is non-adhesive. It lays flat in the trench and will not bond to itself, so when you run out mid-trench, overlap the ends a few feet rather than expecting a splice to hold. Nothing sticks to the cable either, which is what you want when the line has to be pulled later.

Each roll is 1000 feet (304.8 m) of continuous tape, so one roll covers 1000 linear feet of a single trench run. Figure one roll per run and a second for any branch, since there is no adhesive splice to join leftovers.

The color backing is treated so it will not fade or break down on exposure to alkalis and acids, which covers most of what buried tape meets in fill and native soil. The tape is rated for 0 to 120 degrees F (0 to 49 degrees C), so ambient trench temperatures are well inside range.

No. This is buried marking tape for underground electric, printed CAUTION BURIED ELECTRIC LINE BELOW and built with an aluminum foil core so a locator can pick it up through soil. Above-ground barricade tape for cordoning off a work zone is a plain film product with no detectable layer, and it is not intended to go in a trench.

Tensile strength is rated at 15,000, with a total thickness of 5.0 mil (0.13 mm). It is a foil-cored tape, not a stretchy plain film, so keep it flat and unstretched over the line and backfill in lifts rather than dropping heavy rock straight onto it.

Scotch 406 detectable buried barricade tape is compliant with RoHS 2011/65/EU. 3M also publishes an article information sheet and a regulatory data sheet for the product if your submittal package needs documentation attached.