Fiber pull in 3/4 conduit

[lazyriverrat]

Do I have any chance of pulling in fiber through an existing 3/4 inch conduit between my garage and shed? Fiber would have pre-installed LC connectors. Is there a different connector that would be smaller? I am leaning towards the LC because it seems most common.
About a 70' run with a 90 on each end coming up into the buildings. Already using cat 5e. Just curious when that goes bad if fiber is an option. Thanks

 

[23ford]

if you have other items in the conduit it may not have enough room 80% fill rate is what we use. Do you know if any 90's are sweeping or plumbing type?




















5

 

[rayra]

turns / sweeps matter a lot, especially in that small of an I.D. with 90deg elbows as you seem to be indicating. I don't think fiber would survive the pull.

Future proofing with a larger pipe and large radius sweeps would have been a good idea.

 

[number9]

My first question is did you leave a pull string in the conduit?

Do you plan to pull 1 strand of fiber or multiple?

How many Cat5 cables are in the conduit now?

Do you plan to pull fiber thru the conduit in addition to the existing Cat5? OR do you plan to only pull fiber if the Cat5 fails of you want to upgrade someday?

Are to 90’s a hard bend or a sweep?

I pulled a lot of Cat6 and RG6 thru conduits from 3/4” to 2” when we built our house couple years ago.

 

[rjacobs]

use the existing cat5 as your pull to pull your fiber. Pull 2 strands of fiber at least. Stagger the pre-terminated ends...

I dont think youll get 1 or 2 strands of pre-terminated fiber into a 3/4 WITH an existing Cat5...

 

[rlitman]

use the existing cat5 as your pull to pull your fiber. Pull 2 strands of fiber at least. Stagger the pre-terminated ends...

I dont think youll get 1 or 2 strands of pre-terminated fiber into a 3/4 WITH an existing Cat5...

I agree. Particularly at the stated 70' length. Cat 5 doesn't make the best of pull strings, but it should suffice. And if you still need copper in the conduit, you can always pull another piece with your fiber. Hopefully you have long radius sweep ends, or this will not end well.

 

[fitter30]

Use one wire or cable as a pull wire pull wire .Then pull your two new cables with the pull wire.

 

[lazyriverrat]

3/4 conduit is empty. The (2) 90's are sweeps. The existing 5e is in a 1/2in conduit. My 3/4 was my future expansion pipe. No string in it now but I have no problem sucking a string through it, I've done it many times.

I'm sure it would be a fight if I try it. Just curious if anyone had done it successfully.

 

[lazyriverrat]

turns / sweeps matter a lot, especially in that small of an I.D. with 90deg elbows as you seem to be indicating. I don't think fiber would survive the pull.

Future proofing with a larger pipe and large radius sweeps would have been a good idea.

The extra 3/4 pipe seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[lazyriverrat]

My first question is did you leave a pull string in the conduit?

Do you plan to pull 1 strand of fiber or multiple?

How many Cat5 cables are in the conduit now?

Do you plan to pull fiber thru the conduit in addition to the existing Cat5? OR do you plan to only pull fiber if the Cat5 fails of you want to upgrade someday?

Are to 90’s a hard bend or a sweep?

My first question is did you leave a pull string in the conduit?

Do you plan to pull 1 strand of fiber or multiple?

How many Cat5 cables are in the conduit now?

Do you plan to pull fiber thru the conduit in addition to the existing Cat5? OR do you plan to only pull fiber if the Cat5 fails of you want to upgrade someday?

Are to 90’s a hard bend or a sweep?

I pulled a lot of Cat6 and RG6 thru conduits from 3/4” to 2” when we built our house couple years ago.

Fiber will be the only thing in this conduit. the 5e is in a seperate 1/2 next to it. The 5e is what I had at the time. I know it wasn't rated for burial, so it's a mater of time before I need to replace it. I'm just seeing what my options are when it goes bad. I'll likely be pulling in Cat6 rated for burial whenever the day comes.

 

[lazyriverrat]

if you have other items in the conduit it may not have enough room 80% fill rate is what we use. Do you know if any 90's are sweeping or plumbing type?




















5

They are sweeps

 

[jblnut]

I have had numerous 6 strand fiber assemblies made by Grainger and you can specify just about anything on them. I pulled one with LC connectors though a 3/4" pipe and it was unpleasant to say the least but it went. It was around a 50' run with 2 90 sweeps so similar to your pull. I made damn sure to tell them it is going in a 3/4" pipe so they can wrap and prep the pulling eye and LC connectors appropriately.

Whenever asked always spec'd an 1-1/4" pipe for a fiber assembly up to a 12pr. Leaves lots of room for a formal pulling eye and swivel in there. 3/4 is doable but tight.

All that being said ..... A chunk of Cat 6 will likely preform at speeds that you'll never use so fiber is likely not really needed. For that matter the 5e is likely more than capable form whatever you'll be doing.

For GJ purposes fiber is the only way to go though

 

[Slednut]

I go out a couple times a year to re-splice ends on pre-terminated fiber because the ends were damaged while the cable was pulled in. People don't understand how easy the ends will break off if the fiber is kinked. If you have a compressor in the shop you can blow a string through with a piece of cloth tied to the end. Use half hitches, there are a lot of videos on how. Tape the LCs to the string but make sure they aren't being pulled. Multi-mode fiber is fine for short runs and you usually don't have to worry about padding the signal. A six count fiber would be plenty and will be a little difficult to pull without damaging the ends. When you buy media converters make sure they match the type of fiber you installed, multi-mode or single-mode.

 

[mike93lx]

I have had numerous 6 strand fiber assemblies made by Grainger and you can specify just about anything on them. I pulled one with LC connectors though a 3/4" pipe and it was unpleasant to say the least but it went. It was around a 50' run with 2 90 sweeps so similar to your pull. I made damn sure to tell them it is going in a 3/4" pipe so they can wrap and prep the pulling eye and LC connectors appropriately.

Whenever asked always spec'd an 1-1/4" pipe for a fiber assembly up to a 12pr. Leaves lots of room for a formal pulling eye and swivel in there. 3/4 is doable but tight.

All that being said ..... A chunk of Cat 6 will likely preform at speeds that you'll never use so fiber is likely not really needed. For that matter the 5e is likely more than capable form whatever you'll be doing.

For GJ purposes fiber is the only way to go though

Speed isn't the only reason fiber gets used, but you know that. Eliminating a surge risk is always a good idea

 

[MFortie]

I think you’d be better off finding a tech contractor to field terminate your connectors after the pull. Might be able to get a tech to do it on the side.

Then again as I work in the industry I have ready access to those types of resources. YMMV

 

[rjacobs]

3/4 conduit is empty. The (2) 90's are sweeps. The existing 5e is in a 1/2in conduit. My 3/4 was my future expansion pipe. No string in it now but I have no problem sucking a string through it, I've done it many times.

I'm sure it would be a fight if I try it. Just curious if anyone had done it successfully.

lube er up and give er a go then...

order from FS.com so you arent paying much if you some how break something. And get a meter or 2 more than you need and then IF an end comes off you can have a new end spliced on. **** I think you can dang near do LC yourself with not to many special tools.

 

[lazyriverrat]

I have had numerous 6 strand fiber assemblies made by Grainger and you can specify just about anything on them. I pulled one with LC connectors though a 3/4" pipe and it was unpleasant to say the least but it went. It was around a 50' run with 2 90 sweeps so similar to your pull. I made damn sure to tell them it is going in a 3/4" pipe so they can wrap and prep the pulling eye and LC connectors appropriately.

Whenever asked always spec'd an 1-1/4" pipe for a fiber assembly up to a 12pr. Leaves lots of room for a formal pulling eye and swivel in there. 3/4 is doable but tight.

All that being said ..... A chunk of Cat 6 will likely preform at speeds that you'll never use so fiber is likely not really needed. For that matter the 5e is likely more than capable form whatever you'll be doing.

For GJ purposes fiber is the only way to go though

Surge protection is really the only reason I'm considering it. I know Cat6 would be more than capable for what I'm requiring. The fiber just seemed like an interesting project to tackle.

I absolutely agree fiber is the only way to go for GJ.

 

[lazyriverrat]

I think you’d be better off finding a tech contractor to field terminate your connectors after the pull. Might be able to get a tech to do it on the side.

Then again as I work in the industry I have ready access to those types of resources. YMMV

I've considered this but I really don't have the contacts out here in the sticks to get that accomplished. This was all a mute point until I got Starlink and was exposed to the world of high speed internet.

 

[lazyriverrat]

lube er up and give er a go then...

order from FS.com so you arent paying much if you some how break something. And get a meter or 2 more than you need and then IF an end comes off you can have a new end spliced on. **** I think you can dang near do LC yourself with not to many special tools.

I see some Youtube viewing in my near future.

 

[lazyriverrat]

Speed isn't the only reason fiber gets used, but you know that. Eliminating a surge risk is always a good idea

This . The worst part about the 1 1/4 is it'll probably cost more than the fiber right now!

 

[jblnut]

Speed isn't the only reason fiber gets used, but you know that. Eliminating a surge risk is always a good idea

I almost always overkill it in the nasty environments I install stuff in and use armored stuff so surge risk is still there with fiber. Didn't even factor in surge risk as it's always there

Surge protection is really the only reason I'm considering it. I know Cat6 would be more than capable for what I'm requiring. The fiber just seemed like an interesting project to tackle.

I absolutely agree fiber is the only way to go for GJ.

Ubiquiti makes a nice Cat6 Ethernet surge protection device that can be installed at each end and grounded properly. When going from building to building I install them just for extra precaution but y'all are 100% correct, fiber is a way better option !!

This . The worst part about the 1 1/4 is it'll probably cost more than the fiber right now!

No kidding. I ran 180' of 1-1/4 from my well house (demark) to my house this summer and I almost had to sell a kidney to get it done. Damn near could have had fiber dug in for what the pipe cost.

 

[number9]

Fiber will be the only thing in this conduit. the 5e is in a seperate 1/2 next to it. The 5e is what I had at the time. I know it wasn't rated for burial, so it's a mater of time before I need to replace it. I'm just seeing what my options are when it goes bad. I'll likely be pulling in Cat6 rated for burial whenever the day comes.

Gotcha, you should be good with the empty 3/4” pipe. But honestly at 70’, you may not even need fiber as Cat6 will carry 10 Gig around 165’.

 

[rlitman]

3/4 conduit is empty. The (2) 90's are sweeps. The existing 5e is in a 1/2in conduit. My 3/4 was my future expansion pipe. No string in it now but I have no problem sucking a string through it, I've done it many times.

I'm sure it would be a fight if I try it. Just curious if anyone had done it successfully.

It had better not be a fight, because if it is, you're probably breaking strands. Two LC connectors next to each other should pass just fine in what you describe, but more than that and you'll have issues if they're cut to the same length, so as was pointed out above, make sure the company making the fiber is aware of your 3/4" conduit.