CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
(OP)
Hi, has anyone heard of problems installaing premise distribution CAT 6 cables under (or within) floor slabs in open office environment? One of our customer has requested to install outside plant cables under the floor slab. His arguement anyting under the floor slab is considered exterior environment. Usually, however, when we install underfloor conduits, they are always embedded into the floor slab concrete, which is not considered exterior condition by NEC. WHat is everyone's opinion and, if any, experience relating to this type of installation? I do know that CAT 6 is more susceptaible to moisture (due to exterior)problem and interference with crosstalk issues, but I don't think it is a suitable arguement in this case.






RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
Alan
"The engineer's first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is." Unk.
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
Rafiq Bulsara
http://www.srengineersct.com
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
Whatever article you are reading, it perhaps is taken out of context. Sounds like someone is trying not to install conduit to "save" money(read cut corners).
Rafiq Bulsara
http://www.srengineersct.com
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
I guess my original intent of my question is what constitues outside exterior environment. I am reading NEC Art 300.5 and the article talks about direct buried cables and minimum cover. But when the conduit is embedded in the concrete the way I show it, is it still technically considered exterior?
The temperature difference in the article bascially talks about where the conduit penetrate above the floor slab, the conditioned air will condensate inside the below slab conduit even when they are watertight sealed. Therefore when I rad the article I pay attention to the fact that it says about temperature gradient due to conduit in contact with the soil below.
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution
One condition comes to mind: In the event of a ground fault, the fault currents would return through the building's grounding system. While this isn't as important for CAT6 as it would be for power conductors/conduit, similar logic would apply.
RE: CAT 6 cables and undefloor ditribution