Patriot screw-in ring insulator (25 pack)

Details

Ring insulators are the workhorse of a wooden post fence. The screw threads into the post and the ring holds the conductor clear of the wood, so the wire runs down the line without shorting once the posts soak up a wet spring. The ring shape is forgiving. Wire slides through it as the fence expands and contracts through a temperature swing, and out here that swing can be sixty degrees between a January morning and a July afternoon. A fitting that pinches the wire fights that movement, and eventually one or the other gives up. A ring simply lets the line settle where it wants to. Use these on straight line posts and step up to a strain-rated insulator at corners and ends, where the pull concentrates. Drive them with the matching ring insulator tool if you have any real length of fence to do, because by hand they go in slowly and your wrist knows about it by the end. Twenty-five to a pack covers a good stretch at standard post spacing, so count your posts and buy a few spare, since some always end up in the grass.