Direct burial/Trench?

[64duece]

I'm getting ready to trench using a ditch-witch from a new pole to the building which is a fairly straight run of approx 225ft. I'm doing a second ditch from the house that'll tie into the the one from the from the pole. I was planning to do everything at 48" and drop water first. BAckfill to 24" and drop direct burial on top along with some cat5/cable from the house in conduit.

I already purchased direct burial cable to do the job. Should I be concerned about future failures due to frost causing issues (NJ)? I guess I could get it in 2 1/2 or 3" but rather not if it's not needed. Anyone know if the Cat5/cable will be usuable at a run of 325ft from the house? I'd rather not pay the cable company for separate service on the pole too. The electric company already handed me my @ss LOL.

 

[mrb]

youll be ok @ 325ft with the cat5. You may need RG11 or an amp for cable tv at that distance. Use a big conduit for the LV stuff, I would use 1-1/4".

Use direct burial type cat5 and coax. That conduit will end up full of water.....

 

[rcleaver]

If you're using Cat5 for a network leg, you may be on the edge of trouble. The Ethernet limit is 100 meters or 328.1 feet. So this leg will have to be connected to a device that repeats the signal, if there are other legs (normally true).

I would use cat6 to allow for higher ethernet speeds in the future, and test the network before you bury the cable.

 

[mrb]

while you are slightly out of spec for the ethernet length, it will work fine for your application. If you have 500' you will have issues, 330-370', you will be ok.

dont waste your money on cat6. There is no specification now, or pending for the future which requires, or needs cat6 cable. 10GE uses cat6A but you REALLY dont want to try to work with that cable.

 

[davetulk]

make sure Cat5e not just Cat5. Cat6 is a pain.

 

[Keep]

I think he meant the cat 5 to be 225ft. Same length run as the elec. Either way you should be okay. You would be right at the limit at 325 but if you are not pushing huge amounts of data you should be fine.

 

[mad57]

I'm getting ready to trench using a ditch-witch from a new pole to the building which is a fairly straight run of approx 225ft. I'm doing a second ditch from the house that'll tie into the the one from the from the pole. I was planning to do everything at 48" and drop water first. BAckfill to 24" and drop direct burial on top along with some cat5/cable from the house in conduit.

I already purchased direct burial cable to do the job. Should I be concerned about future failures due to frost causing issues (NJ)? I guess I could get it in 2 1/2 or 3" but rather not if it's not needed. Anyone know if the Cat5/cable will be usuable at a run of 325ft from the house? I'd rather not pay the cable company for separate service on the pole too. The electric company already handed me my @ss LOL.

wow im in nj as well and they told me to go min of 42" for the service wire to garage, and wanted me to provide pics of the depth for them and elec inspector, and i put it into 2in conduit with a wire tracer above the pipe at 2 foot they were happy so was i when the juice was turned on

 

[mrb]

make sure Cat5e not just Cat5. Cat6 is a pain.

correct, 5E. I have this bad habit of saying cat5 when i mean cat5e. Everything should be 5E. You need 5E for gigabit, and 6 is 100% useless.

 

[rcleaver]

make sure Cat5e not just Cat5. Cat6 is a pain.

What problems do you guys have with cat6. I used it throughout my home network. No problems at all and now I have a 1Gbps network.

 

[mrb]

What problems do you guys have with cat6. I used it throughout my home network. No problems at all and now I have a 1Gbps network.

the gigabit spec was designed for CAT5E. 6 is more expensive, and more difficult to work with for absolutely zero benefit.

(this is coming with someone who has installed several hundred thousand feet of network cable over the last 10 years)

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Talk with code people about the trench, in some places, you cannot put water and electricity in the same trench.

Charles

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

Run Cat 5e in separate rigid conduit so you can pull and replace or possibly add another small signal cable(s)

Should be OK in same trench w/water piping with backfill @ 24" underground

Run power cable in rigid plastic conduit

Increase power cable size at least two sizes up. You didn't say what your current demands are....

 

[64duece]

Thanks for the replies.

I have a separate electric service for the garage, hence the reasoning for needing to come from the house for water and data service. I have approx 75ft to get from the house to the last service pole before I can join them together. I wanted to use the same trench due to the length didn't want to dig 300+ft for water and another 225ft when they're all headed the same place.

 

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

I'd definately use conduit to bury the cable in. Will make it so much easier to re-run any cable that developes a problem in the future.

 

[MisterCMK]

make sure Cat5e not just Cat5. Cat6 is a pain.

Do you know what the difference between Cat5 and Cat5e is?

 

[MisterCMK]

dont waste your money on cat6. There is no specification now, or pending for the future which requires, or needs cat6 cable. 10GE uses cat6A but you REALLY dont want to try to work with that cable.

O RLY? Wanna try your answer again?

 

[davetulk]

Cat5 is rated for 10/100mb/s Cat5e is rated for 10/100/1000mb/s

Both cables have 4 pairs of wires. The Cat5 has two pairs rated for "High Speed" and uses two of the pairs to get 100mb/s. Cat5e has all 4 pairs rated for "High Speed" . 1000mb/s uses all 4 pairs.

I actually think you would have to search to find Cat5 anymore....Everything to see is usually Cat5e.

You can use Cat6 it will work just fine. However it is a stiffer cable harder to fish though a pipe sometimes. It is also a little different to terminate to spec. It has extra foil shielding. It is also more expensive than Cat5e. Cat6 will give 10Gb/s over very short distance and with your distance it most likely would not work for that speed.

You have to remember that your network will only be as fast as the slowest link. Which in most cases is the Router/Computer/internet connection not the wire.

Unless you plan to launch the space shuttle from your garage within the next 5-10 years Cat5e should provide more than enough capacity. After that Cat7,8,9,10 or whatever will be out and if you need just tie it to the end of the cat5e and just pull it though if you need more.

Will save you a few bucks and bit easier to work with.

 

[mrb]

O RLY? Wanna try your answer again?

Ah I was slightly wrong with my statement about 10GE. Cat6 is good for 55M, and to get the full 100M you need the Cat6A which I previously mentioned.

You DONT need cat6 for gigabit though, and a Cat6 install is only as good as it's weakest length. You have to use cable and connectors that have been tested as an assembly, you cant (for the most part) use field installed RJ45 male connectors, and the whole installation has to be tested to ensure compliance with cat6.

I stand by my statement of 'dont waste money or time on cat6, use 5E'

 

[rcleaver]

You will be shortchanging your future if you use any variety of cat5. It will be obsolete before long. You can get a good quality gigabit router for less than $100 today. Soon you will be able to buy a 10 gb router for that price.

Bandwidth demands will continue to increase even for home networks. With a high speed network, you can easily work with megapixel graphics and high definition video. Or maybe you would prefer to rewire in a few years.

Those who use cat5 are just stuck in the past

Or maybe I should just insist that everyone stop making all varieties of cat6.

 

[mrb]

You will be shortchanging your future if you use any variety of cat5. It will be obsolete before long. You can get a good quality gigabit router for less than $100 today. Soon you will be able to buy a 10 gb router for that price.

Bandwidth demands will continue to increase even for home networks. With a high speed network, you can easily work with megapixel graphics and high definition video. Or maybe you would prefer to rewire in a few years.

Those who use cat5 are just stuck in the past

Or maybe I should just insist that everyone stop making all varieties of cat6.

if you are concerned about futureproofing then you should install conduit to each network outlet location instead of stringing wire through the studs. ENT is cheap and easy to work with.