I am going to be putting a network/phone hub into my new house. There will also me a small NAS working from the same area. Where do people recommend for running this from? I was thinking of one of two places..
1 )- I have an area under the stairs which is dead space - I was going to put it there and build a small cupboard around it which would provide easy access if there were any problems.
2) - In the loft - Main worry is the heat in the summer as the NAS might get a bit too warm and lack of easy access
I am going to be running 3 cables to each room (1 for network, 1 for phone and 1 for future) i.e. there are going to be alot of cables - 12 in places - what are the rules in terms of running this through conduit or is it just common sense i.e. not crushed, away from mains etc?
Under the stairs would be my choice. I've got a cellar, and located my router there - just where the phone line came in. So I simply installed a new BT master socket with a built in filter and replaced the original master with a slave.
I don't think there are crosstalk issues between phone lines and CAT5, etc.
Well, not for domestic runs, anyway.
Good luck with predicting what the future may bring. ;-)
This is probably OK if you can provide ventilation. You might want to add some type of overtemperature stat to cut the power if the NAS gets too hot. You might be able to use some feature built in to the NAS itself, or some type of room stat set to something like 35C through which the NAS is powered (probably want to to latch off though).
I built such a mains controller many years ago (actually for a minicomputer I use to run at home). I has a couple of temperature set points -- above 23C is switches on a fan to circulate the air in the cupboard which helps prevent hotspots, and at 35C it cuts the power and latches off. (It also cuts the power if an interconnected smoke detector triggers, and can do so if there's more than half a mains cycle missing, although this was really for the benefit of an old large minicomputer, and I have the missing mains cycle detection disabled to run a PC, which generally handles many missing mains cycles without any problem.)
Yes, my loft goes over 40C routinely, and up to 50C occationally. I do have a very low power home automation microcontroller up there which handles the upstairs and outdoor lighting, which doesn't seem to have any problems. I would probably not have installed it up there if I had known at the time what the temperature could reach.
Just common sense. One comment I would make for phone wiring is to only route a pair (on 2 and 5) to each socket, and to use master sockets throughout to recreate the bell wire on 3. If you start routing 2, 3, and 5 around and use secondary sockets, there are no 'twisted triple' cables suitable, and you can get crosstalk when the phone rings. Generally, this only upsets a different phone line where the ringing can be heard. Ethernet, being both ballanced and isolated at each end, is still quite immune.
In fact I think if I were doing my setup again I would just stick in a structured wiring system and use cat5 and rj45 sockets all over. Then use the plug in LAUs to convert to a BT compatible socket where you want.
Another option here, depending on the cost, is to use STP [screened twisted pair] for the phone, and earth the end closest to the distribution [under the stairs/loft]. I had a setup years ago with 2 phone lines in the same conduit, both using separate CW1308 cables in the same conduit [cat 5 was *just* available then, but was hideously expensive]. I had very little crosstalk from the lines, I would imagine STP would cut the 'very little' to 'zero' pretty well. The main problem seems to be cable company lines because they use cheapo square wave ringing generators which cause harmonics and so forth. Certainly the cable co phoneline interfered with the BT line more than vice versa.
I am midway through a similar project, which has currently been put on hold and temporarily 'gone wireless' due to other immediate DIY needs. I decided that despite the heat issues the loft represented a far better space in my house as it has reasonably convenient access. As I currently have a Wifi AP in the loft this has the added advantage that it broadcasts over rather than through the internal walls (and all the way to the bottom of the garden too). I have a 1950's house so the internal walls are mostly brick.
With regard to heat in the loft, one thing to watch is that the temperature gradient is very steep, i.e. the apex is usually very hot but at floor level the heat usually isn't too bad. My firewall and server PCs (two low profile Compaq SFF PCs) cope very well in the summer despite having passive heatsinks and the whole PC being cooled by the PSU fan. I am currently on the lookout for a 12U cabinet and will be looking to rack mount the servers as it will be much easier to bring in cool(er) external air and ventilate a small cabinet than cool the entire loft space.
I am going to run some cable downstairs in the near future and was going to follow the wet services down through the airing cupboard and the small duct between the living room and kitchen. Since there are only data cables and no voltages involved I see no major problem with this.
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