Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4" poly pipe

bebster · Oct 5, 2005

Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

I've got about a 150' run from the house to the barn where my satellite dish is. I want to run the house internet off of that dish and am considering burying 1 1/4" black poly pipe (irrigation pipe usually) and pulling the Cat5e wire through that. Does anyone have experience doing this or think it will work? Ideally I'd like to run 2 of these wires with one as a spare. Thanks.

Farwell · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

I have never done it but I think the only problem with cat5 and other communication wiring is the distance between the devices. As far as running the wire through the poly pipe I can't think of any problem. It has been a while since I have read up on cat5 wiring, doesn't the package that the wire is sold in give distance limitations? You may want to keep the wire away from any AC wiring to stop interference.
Farwell

SimS · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

I think the distance limit for CAT 5 is something like 100 meters. You should be okay. Like others have said, watch out for AC interference.

Sim

Varmintmist · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Unless the wire is rated for under ground use, dont do it. That pipe will get moist and the wire will suck the moisture up eventually. The more the weather varies, the faster it will go bad. I have seen hundreds of people who have buried the wrong stuff. It will start as static and end as a short, it will go bad.

You can get CAT3 direct burial that should work fine. You wont lose enough to notice. You can probably find CAT 5 UG rated cable if you want.

gobbler · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Here at work we ran about 150' of Cat 5e that has a jelly-like substance inside the wire to a guard station. Don't remember the name of it but it was pricey. It was ran through condiut and was used because of moisture.

MossRoad · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

I ran two CAT5 and three RG6 coaxes through a 1-1/4" conduit between my house and garage. Our dish is mounted on the garage. Two of the coax are for feeding the reciever in the house and the third is a return line to watch TV in the garage. The CAT5 is for computer and telephone. Works fine.

Try and keep your run as straight as possible, because bends and turns add friction to the pull. If you start adding up the angles of the bends, you will see that once you get around 270 degrees, things start to bind up. Then you need to add a pull box to relieve the bind.

I've had great success with tying a rag or piece of foam rubber to some fishing line and sucking it through the conduit with a shop vac. Then you can pull in a heavier string or small rope with the fishing line. Finally, pull in the cables with the string. As suggested, you may want to use some pulling lubricant to make the wires slippery. They tend to not bind up that way. Also, you way want to pull in an extra string with the cables, in case you want to pull in some more wires, later. If you do decide to pull more wires later, a lubricant is almost a must, as the string and new wires will have a tendancey to wrap around the existing cables and the friction can burn through the insulation. Good luck in your project.

PBinWA · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

( I've got about a 150' run from the house to the barn where my satellite dish is. I want to run the house internet off of that dish and am considering burying 1 1/4" black poly pipe (irrigation pipe usually) and pulling the Cat5e wire through that. Does anyone have experience doing this or think it will work? Ideally I'd like to run 2 of these wires with one as a spare. Thanks. )

It might be cheaper and easier to do it with some wireless routers or range extenders and directional antennas.

DLink Wireless Routers and Antennas

There are lots of Books and web sites that can help with this.

Just another option.

cmuncy · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

You will need to get what they refer to as " flooded cable" THis has the jell substance inside the jacket that will withstand moisture for years. That's wy the phone company uses it.

Now, will it work if you just use plain old CAT5e? Sure. For how long? You'll know when the cable has deteriorated. Watch for the orange pair to shed it's colors for starters.

If you can afford it, get the flooded cable. Typically around 2x the cost of regular cable. Well worth the initial investment though.

CTyler · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Why are there recomendations for a buriable cable when it will be inside a plastic pipe?

My plastic conduits are 75' long and stay dry as bone. I'm running cat 5e, RG6 and 22awg alarm wires ~100ft by the time its' connected between the house and shop.

mikim · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Depends on where you are at and soil conditions. Here in the gulf basin if you dig a 3' hole it will fill with water. Every underground conduit is full of water. It's just the way it is. So we always use "waterproof" cable in the conduits.

keeney · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

If you think the conduit will stay dry, I'd put in the cheapest cat 5e you can find. If it goes bad in 5 years, easy enough to replace it by pulling more through the conduit using the old wire to pull the new.

One thing to watch out for in a buried conduit is condensation from air flow from the heated, moist air in the house condensing when it hits the colder inside of the conduit. Any pressure differential between the two buildings (from wind, exhaus fans, etc) will cause air to flow one way or the other. Seal the ends of the conduit after you pull the wires with some putty to prevent this.

If you splice the conduit, be sure its a solvent-welded connection.

BobReeves · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Ya just run the cheap stuff, I also have a 1 1/4 conduit running 150 ft from the house to the shop. Two cat-5 and two RG-6 coax.. If any one goes bad I'll just pull it and replace it.

A tip is to pull the cables one at a time, that way they won't twist around each other and become a nightmare to replace. Just pull a second pull string in with the first cable.

Tim_in_IA · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

150' is fine. As someone else stated 100meters is your limit. This means you'll need a device to device connection within the 100m limit though, so make sure your hub or computer is within that range once you get in the house.

I wouldn't go wireless due to security and bad performance. At those distances most home units will be struggling to provide signal without special antennas. (or homemade pringles can antennas! )

If you are concerned about the cat 5 corroding you might consider running fiber and using a fiber to ethernet converter box at each end. You could get the material for this at cdw or someplace similar. As long as you glue your joints and use plastic conduit and seal the ends I don't think it would be an issue though. As someone else suggested, use cat 5 and if it breaks down just use it to pull a fresh cable through.

They also sell plenum grade cat 5 for fire and interference protection in buildings that would be more rugged if you can find it. It has metal sheilding built in it.

If it was me I'd just install the cat 5 and hope for the best. If you have signal problems and are running 100mbit you can always set the speed to 10mbit and see how it goes.

Nasty135 · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

( jelly-like substance ) 

That is affectionately called icky-pick... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif not fun but fairly weather resistant, should hold up forever in a pipe /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Cat 5 should go the distance with marginal loss... I want to run a 100+' drop to my barn for a little hi-speed hill billy networking... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

CTyler · Oct 5, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

The ol sneaker net gets old quick. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

MossRoad · Oct 6, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

CAT5 cable is under $70 for a 1000' roll. If it goes bad you can replace it 5 times and still have 100' left to make patch cables or telephone runs in the outbuilding. If the pipe is one continuous lenght moisture could get in it from condensation, but not leakage. As someone mentioned, you should plug both ends with putty so that air will not be able to transfer between buildings. Also, it makes a good highway for bugs /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Farmwithjunk · Oct 6, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

(

I've had great success with tying a rag or piece of foam rubber to some fishing line and sucking it through the conduit with a shop vac. Then you can pull in a heavier string or small rope with the fishing line. Finally, pull in the cables with the string. )

I've been a carpenter for all of my working carreer. First thought is I just pound nails all day. Not true! We do all sorts of things, not the least of which is to hang LOTS of suspended ceilings. To straighten the gridwork, we use what is known as "jet line". Most accoustical ceiling suppliers sell it, but it was shamelessly robbed from the electrical trade.

It's about the thickness of dental floss. It comes in "spools" wound from the outside, in. There's a foam rubber end on one end. That's to seal it inside of conduit. You insert foam end first, tie off the string, then use a shop vac on the other end to pull the foam and spool through the conduit. A mile of it weighs next to nothing. It will pull through curves in the conduit with great ease.

Any good electrical supply house should carry it, as well as accoustical ceiling wholesalers usually have it.

Mavrik02 · Oct 6, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

150' of CAT5e will be fine (like others mentioned I think the limit is ~300'/run). They make at least two types, one indoor and one indoor/outdoor. As mentioned, the cable is relatively cheap at $34-$75 for 500ft. I would run two lines. Yes you can always pull another but if one doesn't work it's a lot easier to just hook up to the other line rather than rerun the whole line. Trust me on this I just ran over 2000' of CAT5e and 2000' of RG6 in my new house...the cable is cheap the labor is the pain...

My cable and phone are run 440' underground in a 1 1/2" conduit. Neither the phone line or the cable (both run by the utility companies) were as good as the stuff I ran inside the house.

Good luck

hayden · Oct 6, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

Nobody has said it explicitly, so I'll chime in. Use Cat 5e rather than Cat 5 if you can. The Cat 5e is good for Gigabit Ethernet. It may seem overkill, but GigE switches are almost as cheap as 10/100 now, and the difference in wire price should be zilch.

Also, although I understand the "replace it every 5 years" argument, personally I'd get the underground rated cable and do it once. Do you really want to be diagnosing a marginal cable 5 years from now? I'd hope to be doing other things instead.

Westonium · Oct 10, 2005

Re: Pulling Cat5e wire thru 1 1/4\" poly pipe

I am totally with Hayden on this. I use my file server as if it was an extra hard drive thanks to my gigabit connection with it.

Get the Cat5e
300' is the limit.
Seal the conduit as if it was full of 100psi water.

Note to anyone needing to go further:
You can attach a device that converts the gigabit signal to fiber optic cable, run the fiber a realllly long way, convert back to copper at the other end. Added bonus - you could run fiber next to 110AC and have it be fine - no noise issues. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Wireless is mostly insecure and is often hijackable. If you aren't a technogeek - consider some neighbor using your network to do illegal things...