Which is the best way to run Cat5E underground?
Use waterproof cable such as
I have seen mention of buried plastic pipes but I'm not sure what the cost benefits would be of running say 42mm plastic waste with normal Cat5E inside vs. running waterproof Cat5E in a trench.
TIA
Dave R
In any case, you need to assume underground ducting will fill with water (and it usually does sooner or later). Given that I've usually got 1000' coil of standard Cat5e, I would use that, at least to start with, and be prepared to pull a new length through if it degrades due to moisture. The outdoor stuff is significantly more expensive (and in part, it's UV protection, which you don't need anyway). You might find the indoor stuff is waterproof enough. Another possibility would be to thread the ethernet through a hosepipe with ends sealed above ground, although you'll probably still end up with condensation build up eventually, even in that.
Running copper ethernet between buildings does expose you to a higher risk of equipment destruction in the case of a nearby lightning strike (even though ethernet is better protected than many other things).
Running the cable in a duct costs you more in the first place, but you can run extra cables later without digging any more holes, and you're less likely to suffer from cable damage. The same duct can hold mains cable, ethernet and a phone extension cable and doesn't require armoured cable for the mains. Just make sure the ends are sealed from the inside of the buildings, or you have just given vermin a nice warm, dry highway.
Agree with those points but bear in mind that pulling a cable round more than one, even gently swept, bend becomes difficult. Best to try make each "pull" straight or at most have one bend close to one end so you can push the cable as well as pull it.
Mains really ought to be kept seperate from the other low voltage stuff as the insulation on those cables is not mains rated and the kit at either end may well not appreciate mains voltages either.
The big cost is digging the trench, duct (aka drain pipe) is cheap put two ducts in one for all the LV stuff and one for mains. IIRC the LV ought to be green or purple, the mains black.
In article , David WE Roberts scribeth thus
FWIW..
There is proper Armoured CAT 5 cable just like a smaller version of SWA for mains.
You can direct bury that, the other stuff bandied around as Outdoor has a Black polythene covering which does not deteriorate like some non carbon loaded plastic coatings do.
Otherwise use a coil of water pipe, the Blue stuff, and put Standard CAT 5 cable in but no open joints where water can seep in and obviously seal the end joints very well if outdoors at all...
It's not ok to share a duct with mains and signal cables, it should be 2 separate ducts.
I personally would not use plain mains cable in a buried duct, the risk of damage is too great, I would still use armoured.
Good question, and one that I've pondered in the past, too (just never got around to posting about :-)
What's the distance between the other end-point (house?) and your shed? I've got about 100' between my house and the workshop - it's close enough that I've also wondered about using a wireless link; a couple of wireless routers with homebrew directional antennas *might* be suitable across that distance (and easier than running cable), but I really don't know. I have a general mistrust of wireless, mainly on reliabilty rather than security grounds, but it was another possible solution which popped into my head - I only need workshop access for occasional looking up of parts diagrams etc. so it doesn't need to be that robust or particularly secure.
As for running cable, I'd agree with others that it's best to assume that any ducting will fill with moisture, at least to some extent. Plain ol' PVC waste pipe is cheap (at least over here where I am), but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to use it (vs. stuff rated for underground electrical), or if it's even wise to do so (possible deterioration issues with regular pipe?)
cheers
Jules
My brother has a new garage put together about 8 months or so ago, so we laid an SWA for the power and two runs of this
Thanks - looks a bit like mains water pipe (which I haven't priced yet) which was suggested up thread. [Thinks - I will be buying mains water pipe for the water supply to the shed anyway - this may be a cost effective option. If I have to buy a 50m roll then there will be enough for a cable run as well as the cold mains water.] I do have a reel of Cat5E which I have used for internal wiring in the past and there is probably enough to reach the shed - the distance is about 15 metres externally but I will have some internal wiring to do as well in the house and shed.
Power will be armoured, not normal T&E in a conduit.
Cheers
Dave R
This stuff is much thinner than the MDPE water pipe, so you get moer room for cables, but if you are laying this anyway, a 50m reel of it isn't that far more, and will be water tight (You would hope!)
If this is 'just in case', one option might be to lay multimode fibre instead of cat5, which should be fine in the same duct as the power (I assume). It's about a pound a metre, which would be a lot cheaper than laying another duct. Get some secondhand switches to go at each end (some on ebay for about 35 quid each), and you have plenty of bandwidth. Getting soggy, rusty, etc shouldn't be a problem.
Slightly more annoying for running phones though, unless you go VoIP.
Theo
40mm seems a bit OTT. If you use pipe, polythene has the lowest friction of all types, and this is important when it comes to cabling it. Aka MDPE
NT
Power can be direct buried - no need for conduit. If you are worried about how to replace it, lay an extra empty conduit, which you can use for anything later on.
En el artículo , David WE Roberts escribió:
If you use a pipe, you can also run a couple of pull ropes in case you want to install more cables later, or to replace the existing one if it fails.
En el artículo , Dave Liquorice escribió:
I use white. It's instantly visible if you accidentally dig it up.
Have you considered ethernet over mains? AKA Homeplug
Bob
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
DON'T DO IT
Sorry for shouting but - just don't OK
Avpx
But why would I? I am installing wiring in a trench, not trying to avoid lifting flooring and damaging decorations in an existing location. Homeplug is a wiring bodge, and an alternative to WiFi. AFAIK you don'r run at Gigabit speeds over either of these technologies. For new build/clean install I don't think you can beat real wires designed specifically to carry Ethernet.
A homebrew antenna would be cheap but there are plenty of genuine off the shelf items. Check out
Paul DS.
You can get rather high thruputs now on radio but the main problem is congestion, thats too many users wanting to use the same bit of spectrum at the same time.
Fixed Links are better now on 5.8 Ghz sub band C, where we have been able to get them running over many miles proving the link paths are good.
Prolly cost effective compared to laying CAT 5 in a duct and much less hard work required i.e. no digging;)...
Solwise are decent suppliers of that sort of gear nowadays...
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.