Electrical Insulation Tape Colour Chart Guide

Various types of coloured electrical tape are available, often used specifically for colour-coding wires and other components. It is worth noting that there are some key differences between the most common coding systems used in the UK and the US, as we highlight below.

While pink electrical tape is available, it is not used as a standard phasing tape colour anywhere in the world. Instead, pink tape is usually used by hobbyists rather than professionals and electricians.

While most electricians will generally only use black electrical tape for the actual insulation of wires and connections, other electrical tape colours are commonly chosen as phasing tapes.

Wires that need to be phased can thus be marked with a ring of colour-coded tape near the termination at each end, making the purpose of each wire clearer.

In the UK and internationally, white electrical tape is not widely used as a phasing indicator. However, in the US, it is generally taken to signify ‘low voltage, neutral’.

Conversely, in the UK, white insulation tape is very often used for visible and external applications involving white cordage, to provide better overall aesthetics on a multitude of standard domestic applications.

Blue electrical tape is typically used to indicate ‘low voltage, phase C’ in both the UK and US. International usage indicates, ‘low voltage, neutral sheath, 230V’.

Green electrical tape generally signifies earth in the UK, and earth ground in the US. Internationally, a green-and-yellow-striped tape would usually imply isolated ground in the US, and earth for international use.

Brown electrical tape is not widely used as a phase indicator in the UK. In the US, it denotes ‘high voltage, phase A’, while in international use, it usually signifies ‘low voltage, phase A’.

In the UK, yellow electrical tape is used for ‘low voltage, phase B’. In the US, it denotes ‘high voltage, phase C’, while yellow in international use means ‘sheath, 110V site wiring’.

Red electrical tape commonly signifies ‘low voltage, phase A’ in the UK, while in the US it will usually be ‘low voltage, phase B’. Internationally it is taken to identify ‘sheath, 415V 3-phase’.

Grey electrical tape is another uncommon standard in the UK, but internationally it will often signify ‘low voltage, phase C’. In the US, the usual implication of grey electrical tape would be ‘high voltage, neutral’.

Orange electrical tape is not usually used in the UK. Instead, it is more prevalent in the US and is also used internationally.

In the US, orange electrical tape signifies ‘high voltage, phase B’, while internationally, it refers to the wiring sheath colour.

Once again, purple electrical tape is not a standard colour for phasing tape in the UK.

Violet tape is primarily used in the US to denote ‘high voltage, phase B’ and while other shades of purple electrical tape are available, they are not commonly used.

Clear electrical tape is not used for phasing tape, yet it is sometimes seen used alongside other colours of electrical tape to avoid confusing colours.

It is primarily used for maintenance and repair work and due to its lack of colour, it is well suited to highly visible applications where brighter tape colours would be much more noticeable.