OT-- cat 5 cable

[ldj]

If I bury cat 5, how long will it last? In other words is it OK to bury it?
L.D.

 

[old_bc]

I don’t know about burying it but I have about 60 feet of cat5 cable that has been hanging in the air between the house and my shed for about 10 years and it is still working fine.

old_bc

 

[[email protected]]

You can bury Cat5 cable. I would suggest placing it in a PVC pipe or something similar for protection against critters and the stretching of freezing and thawing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Burried cable of any type is specially made to prevent moisture and critters from entering. Regular PVC cable is not ment to be exposed to outdoor weather and sunlight. Also any cable between buildings must have lightning protection. You may get away with violating these rules for a while but sooner or later you will pay. I have spent most of the last week here in West Michigan repairing phone equipment that had storm damage, and some of it was properly protected. Lightning strikes can and do damage electronic equipment but can also injure or kill the persons using the equipment. Oh, and why cat 5? That is designed specificaly for Ethernet data up to 100mhz speeds. Dave.

 

[MarkB_MI]

I have two runs of cat 5e that I buried out to my shop about five years ago. One run is down two feet and the other is buried with my water line four feet down. I use the shallow run for my phone line; the other one I used to connect a thin client to the computer in my house via ethernet. I've had no problem with my phone, but the ethernet run quit a while back. I never bothered to figure out if it had anything to do with being buried.

If you bury it deep enough, your biggest problem is going to be where the cable enters and exits the ground. I suggest you run the cable through PVC conduit from where it exits the building down to about 18 inches underground. That will protect it from gophers, sunlight and your weedwhacker.

 

[Anonymous-0]

im with Dave Diehl. bury conduit with the ethernet run inside it. ethernet doesnt take much to damage and ruin your connection, and if you run it through a pipe that shouldnt be a problem. but a rock in your backfill could ruin bare ethernet as soon as you put it in, so use a pipe, even some old poly water pipe if you've got some handy, and it'll save you the trouble. plus in some years if you want you'll have another conduit to fish new lines through.

 

[KSF]

There is Cat 5 and regular phone cable made for direct burial. It has a thick skin and is gel coated on the inside to prevent moisture penetration. I think the smallest is about a 4 pair cable. Also, get an electrical surge protector at each end of the cable. They have gas operated fuses in them. They can be obtained from a company like Communications Supply Corporation. Since most of the wire is sold in 1000 ft reels it might be wise to call some of the communications installers around and see if they would sell shorter lengths. The above or typical instalations that phone and data people do, call them first for advice and equipment.

 

[OldFarmTractor]

Considering the price of the Cat 5 cable and the problems that might ensue, you might want to condider going wireless. The access points are not terribly expensive and you will be one step ahead in the technology game.

My work just went wirelss and it is working better than their expectations.

 

[big fred]

Another big vote for wireless instead of burying. Just make sure to enable your wireless encryption.

 

[Goldman]

1000 ft maximum run for carry data between hubs...although YMMV

 

[[email protected]]

One other thing with Cat5 and surge protection... Don't expect a surge protector to save you from a lightning strike. Lightning travels more than 30 miles through the air before striking the ground in some instances. There is not a surge protector designed for 30 miles of energy. Contrary to popular belief, there isn't a surge protector on the market that will stop lightning.