atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Outside Plant OSP Construction buried splices-xaga etc

looking for feedback from former/current telephone cable repair/splicers. I'm cable repair and don't care for buried splices at all, seems like all we do is dig them up. Engineers are placing fixed count terminals, factory splices etc. Having difficult time getting upper mgmt to understand it cost more money, more time, customer dissatisfaction, etc etc. just wondering if any of you guys have the same problems in your area, or if possible someone has found a solution......

I have never been a fan of buried splices. Usually, when a cable gets cut, the only correct way to repair it is to splice twice. Cuts are never clean and the damage usually extends several feet. In these cases, we try to place two pedestals if the site conditions will permit. If not, we place one pedestal and one buried splice (and make a note inside the pedestal how far away the buried splice is).

We have always used 3M Better Buried closures with re-enterable encapsulant and have not had problems with them. They are a lot more expensive than most. Those XAGA closures are a joke to me, they almost appear to be something "home made", just a bunch of tape and sleeves. I have dug more of those up than anything, and they are usually full of water.

Cablegirl..you talk full circle. Northwestern Bell tried the dedicated service 25 years ago and abandoned it for the very reasons you've mentioned. Just this one thing will drive you nuts....located the drop..oops forgot to bond it in the splice, now what? Believe me we had a ton of that, when they first started they were even told NOT to bond the drops at the splice, the ground at the house was sufficient, they didn't think about locating it later.

A properly done buried spice with a good encapsulant is fine. When the company's try to go cheap or the splicers try to hurry and leave voids and air pockets in the encapsulant is where the troubles are. We had a buried splice closure (moons ago), that was the tops, never had problems, that Ma Bell in her wisdom went with a cheaper expandable encapsulant, used it for several years before they found out it was like a sponge to moisture. There's my 2 cents.

By the way Ed welcome back, I was afraid no one liked me or I'd forgotten to shower. :confused:

My two cents ---

Spliced with the pink sponge that Bell thought would work,

Spliced with what Contel liked ---- green hard epoxy by 3M like electricians like,

Spliced with an expandable "honey" made of two parts that United (ne: Sprint) liked,

Azaga was almost okay for aerial PIC, not for lead or lead-to-PIC even thought it was SUPPOSED to work, and s%*ked for buried.

Of course, you can't beat LEAD! best there is.

Who bought out ComTech? They made good, inexpensive acrylic tube-type expandable closures and the "honey" as well as bonding braid, bonding clamps, and other OSP products.

Yes, avoid buried splices, dedicated plant, or "Telecom Engineers" (re: experts) but sometimes you have to dance with the devil. That's when you have to do the above.

Good luck,

KLD

Aerial splices - buried splices, they are all part of the business. It is nice to throw a couple of pedestals in to avoid buried splices but practicality very often does not allow it. I think what happens to the splices most often is that the installers do not, as mentioned above. do the job properly. 3M Better Buried closures with re-enterable encapsulant are definitely the route to go as their product is very robust and the kits come with everything required. Usually problems occuring with buried splices are simple and could be avoided by the splicer taking time to ensure that the job is done correctly. By all means avoid a buried splice as often as possible but be prepared...there are too many cable locators (backhoes, trenchers, post hole diggers)out there.

Telcomtex is very right about the 3M Better Buried line. And the 3M 4442 (3000 gram) or 8882 (6000 gram) compound is very good.
Just put two of them in the ground Wednesday morning and it now has eight inches of concrete over it. Do you think I needed to be real sure it was right? You're dang right I had to have it right. That's why I used the 3M combo. But you need to furnish your own bond clamps.

This was a Gov't job, needed to be end to end tested, inspector okay the splice before the closure was poured and before it was covered. When it got cut late Monday --- git 'er done. Got material ordered, start Tuesday morning --- wait, we want it this way. Re-order material, swap tooling --- get 'er done. Then wait for the inspector. Get 'er done. Wait on the inspector. Poured after his tour was up. Called for inspection next morning at 0700--- get 'er done. Inspector showed up 1000 and we covered it. GOT 'ER DONE !!!

And they can't understand why they can't get contractors to work on base for small jobs like this.

Also it had a azaga that we cut out where it had been cut and spliced before. Ever see one look like a goat's bladder leaking red wine?


KLD

Yep, that was my sentiment in my original response on this post. I have never had a problem with BB closures and 4442 encapsulant. I am not worried about the $2.00 worth of bond clamps that aren't included, but I can imagine that someone inexperienced might not stock them or know to order them and simply make the splice without them just to "git 'er done". Since 3M makes them, they really should consider including them in their kits.

I gotta tell you. Those XAGA closures amaze me! Nothing but a bunch of tape and sleeves with a shrink-wrap tube over the whole thing. They just seem so "home-made". When you look at their installation video, I swear that there are 30 parts involved, all that require a human thought process ("don't stretch this too tightly, don't leave this loose, don't forget........"). Too much room for error.

Spend another ten bucks, buy a 3M closure and walk away (in half the time) knowing you won't be seeing it again.

Amen, Brother Ed, Amen. Now pass the plate for another set of BBs to put on the shelf.

KLD

I once saw a bb with encapsulant on top of a roof.
The customer had problems with the lines to the other building. I ask the customer if I could go up on the roof. Sure enough, I found an underground splice on top of a hot sunny roof.

Who ever did this?
I would like you to know that this stuff is made to be underground only. The sun will degrade the encapsulant and then water sets in. This took repeated service calls to find this out. It almost got to the point of repacing the whole cable if I didn't take the time to look on the roof to solve the improper splice. Ed makes a good point of making two splices for any underground break.